Coffee With a Shot of Murder
by BellaAodh
Summary: A kitty coffee shop AU, but it gets a little intense. Yep I know there is probably a hundred of these but I've never done an AU and wanted to give it a try. So this starts off in a coffee shop and takes the magic and supernatural out of the world, but I will try to keep the characters as close to their original counterparts as possible.
1. Whispers

It was Ty's shift at his family's coffee shop. It was small but relatively popular thanks to some brilliant business decisions on his older brother Julian's part. Julian proved to be quite adept at running a business. Smart innovations like to add in a vape bar when the trend started getting traction, and other such decisions that kept the Blackthorn's financially afloat. The store was small enough that only one person was usually needed to man the shop, and on the rare busy days two or three.

Thankfully for Ty, today was not a busy day, and as a result he spent the majority of it sitting behind the bar reading. That was the case until he heard the chime of the bell above the front door alerting him to the fact that he now had a customer he was expected to wait on.

Ty shifted his gaze to look at the customer to see a familiar blonde haired boy who was approximately his age approach the bar.

Ty's grip on his book tightened.

The boy stopped in front of the bar as Ty put down his book getting up to fix the other boy's order.

"Black coffee." Ty said in acknowledgment that he already knew the order and turned around to prepare the beverage. The corner of the boys mouth quirked up as he took a seat in the corner of the shop.

The boy and his dad were regulars of the coffee shop and Ty noticed two things about him as time went on. The first thing was that he ordered his coffee black, which striked Ty as odd given his age, and the fact that he had been eyeing the different flavors they had before ordering. The second time he served him, Ty decided to try something, and was glad Julian wasn't around to see him purposely mess up a customer's order just to see if his deductions were correct. Instead of giving him black coffee as he had ordered, Ty gave him a peppermint latte, Which Ty was pleased to see that the boy drank the coffee without so much as saying a word of complaint.

The second thing he would notice was the color of the boy's eyes, which was odd for Ty considering that he seldom made eye contact with anyone if he could help it. This was something that often made others uncomfortable around him. Most of the customers ever banned from the shop in fact, were those who presumed Ty was rude and tried to give him a piece of their mind, In which Julian had promptly kicked them out of the store and giving them a lifetime ban. So it struck him as interesting that the blonde boy never tried to catch his eye, making him suddenly curious as to what the other boy's eye color was. The answer he would find, was light blue like distilled twilight.

Ty sat down the coffee in front of the boy before returning to sit behind the bar. The boy took a sip of the coffee, and looked down at the cup with a small smile. The bell chimed again and both boy's turned their head to look at the new customer. It was tall man who was probably in his late 30s though he seemed to want to appear younger judging by the style of his clothes, and blonde highlights that looked rather off on the older man.

"Black, with seven cubes of sugar if you have it." The man said leaning on the counter giving Ty a grin showing off his missing teeth. Ty nodded without meeting his eyes and turned to begin making the order when he noticed the man take a seat across from the blonde haired boy.

Odd, Ty thought.

Odder still was that the boy didn't seem surprised by this, but instead gave the man a lazy look as he apprised the him still lounging in his seat. The two customers began to talk in low voices. Even though they were clearly trying to whisper it wasn't hard to over hear them considering they were the only one's in the shop. Besides, Ty thought as he slowly prepared the coffee, he had to admit he was curious. His mind seemed to snag on the man's next words.

"Alright little Rook I got your information if you got mine." The older man leered.

"Yeah, I got it alright." The boy said producing a small slip of paper between his fingers that he waved in front of the man. The man eyed the paper, shifting with impatience as he snatched it from the table as the boy slid it towards him. The man read the paper and let out a huff, as if he was amused by it somehow.

"This it? This is all you got?" The boy narrowed his eyes at him.

"Look that's all I could get, Thats the address of the drop, what more do you need? He said waving his hand as if to say "what can you do?" The man cocked an eyebrow, an uncomfortable grin spreading across his face as he leaned in close across the table.

"Really? With a pretty face like yours? You must not have tried that hard." His voice was so low it made his words sound like a threat. The boy was quiet for a moment before leaning across the table as well, never breaking eye contact.

"Don't screw with me Miles, I got you your information. Now, wheres my father?" He said, matching the man's threatening tone surprisingly well. The man Miles, smiled wide exposing the gaps in his teeth as he fished out his own crumpled piece of paper from his jacket pocket and placed it on the table in front of them. The boy hesitated for a moment before picking up the paper and quickly scanned through its contents, his brow furrowed in confusion as he reached the end.

" _This_ , this is where he last was?" He seemed to be putting a lot of emphasis on "this", Ty thought, which said something since it was the kind of thing he usually had trouble picking up on.

"Looks like you didn't even need my help." Miles leaned back in his seat and looked around the cafe, his arms stretching out wide.

"But...why?" The boy still looked dumbfounded much to the mans amusement.

"Look kid, this place ain't as big is you think, everyone's got their hands in somebody's pocket. And anybody looking for pockets _knows_ Johnny Rook."

That's why Rook sounded familiar Ty thought, as he finally brought the man the coffee he ordered. Strangely however, as he walked up to the table Johnny Rook's son palled as he noticed him there. The man just stood up and waved away the coffee Ty had still in hand.

"Afraid I have some business to attend to. Here kid, you like sugar don't you? Why don't you take it. Consider it a thanks for the information…about your father." He said with a grin as he got up to leave. The boy scowled as he watched him leave the shop.

It wasn't long before the boy who was apparently looking for his father left the cafe. Ty was cleaning up the table, noting that the coffee with sugar was left completely untouched. Picking up the cash, he counted the money left on the table. The boy had left a 20 dollar bill, way over paying for his order, tip included. An idea was forming in Ty's head as his mind raced to put all the whispered pieces together, who was Johnny Rook, and where was he? What sort of information did the boy have and what did the man tell him that surprised him so?

A very interesting idea.

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Kit Rook made his way back to the coffee shop late that night making sure to dodge past streetlights and incoming headlights. As the little shop came into view he pulled up the hood of his jacket hoping his blonde curls weren't sticking out too much. He took his time walking around the shop. The lights were off, obviously the shop had been closed for hours now. No need for anyone to still be in there by now he thought. Kit looked around the entrance way hoping to find a spare key. If it was a typical store he wouldn't bother, but everyone knew the little cafe was a family run business with the owner's nieces and nephews working as the stores only employees. So it was possible that maybe they had a spare key lying around for when one of the more forgetful siblings forgot theirs, much like a spare house key.

Kit looked under the welcome mat, nothing. Of course not that would be too obvious he thought, as he looked around more his eyes resting on a large rock. Kit smiled and walked over to it lifting it up to indeed a find a small key. He picked it up smiling to himself feeling victorious, only to have the smile slide of his face as he looked at Ambrosia Brews. Kit pushed himself forward putting the key in the lock, his eyes glancing over at the small chalk sign by the door that read: Our motto is "bad service is no service."

Kit pushed open the door closing it gently behind him. The cafe looked much more quaint in the dark somehow to him. The Roman styled pillars with fake ivy wrapped around it along with the white Christmas lights that hung on the ceiling made the place feel more elegant than it actually was. There was no music playing like usual either making the place feel smaller. Usually Ambrosia had different music playing depending on the employee working. Kit first noticed it when he came into the shop one day and was greeted with soft classical music instead of the typical pop rock or musical soundtracks he was used to. He would begin to associate that music with the dark haired barista that always served him flavored coffee rather than black. Tiberius, he thought he remembered was his name. Kit shook his head, why was he thinking about the barista? That wasn't helping his cause right now.

Kit walked into the back of the shop where the kitchen and office space was, it really was smaller than he thought. He walked through the kitchen and headed into the office, relieved that the office wasn't locked. Kit bent over to look at the papers scattered on the desk, he wasn't really sure what he was looking for but there had to be _something_ here, anything. Kit began shuffling through the papers, mostly bills and paycheck stubs when he heard a sudden noise behind him.

Kit whirled around still clutching the papers in his hands only to see the dark haired boy from earlier standing in the doorway holding a kitchen knife. Tiberius.

He looked unsure of what to do next but his hand held steady on the knife. That's when he raised his eyes to meet Kit's.

Kit sucked in a breath. His eyes were a startling gray matching the knife in his hands, yet somehow his own eyes were drawn more to the boy's then the threat he held in his hands. He watched as his grey eyes widened, mirroring his. Words left Kit as he stared back at the boy. For a moment they just stood there in silence.

"I-."

"That's not what your looking for." The boy interrupted, his eyes darting down to look at the paper in Kit's hands.

"Wait- What now?" Kit said baffled. He just motioned with the knife for Kit to move out of the way. Despite himself he stepped aside to let him through. Tiberius moved into the office and produced a key from his pocket he used to unlock a filing cabinet left of the desk Kit had found his papers, quickly taking out several sheets of paper and handing them to Kit. He hesitated before looking at the documents, shocked that this boy who didn't even know him would just hand them to him. The papers seemed to be detailing transactions or recording meeting times under the name of R. Kit riffled through a few more pages and felt his heart jump seeing the simple scrawl of his father's handwriting. Kit looked back up at the boy to see him holding out his hand for something.

"Show me the paper he gave you." He said. It took Kit a moment to register what he was asking for, almost forgetting that he must have overheard his conversation with Miles. Kit pulled out the paper he still had in his pockets and handed it over, watching the other boy examine it.

"That's what I thought, Its a forgery." He said with a nod.

"No its not." Kit said realizing this was really the first thing he had to contribute in this bizarre conversation. Tiberius didn't contradict him, just waited for him to continue.

"I know my dad's handwriting and that's definitely it."

"No." He shook his head showing him the paper." See here where the lines are darker as if someone had hesitated here? This means someone was taking their time trying to be very precise, they wouldn't have to do that if that was their handwriting." He said it with complete confidence, and Kit had to admit now that he had seen it he was starting to doubt it himself.

"But how did you know this was a forgery before you had even seen it?" _And what are you still doing here_ , he wanted to ask.

"I overheard you talking, you seemed to be surprised of the location he gave you, it sounded like it must have been somewhere you were familiar with, but the information wasn't unhelpful so it wasn't your house, or his place of work. You spent a lot of time after you finished your coffee before leaving just observing the store like you were looking for something, also left too much money when you left and considering your father is missing I'm guessing you don't have an abundance of money to just give away so you did it on purpose. That would suggest you were feeling guilty about something but you hadn't done anything yet, so it was about what you were going to do. And if I was right I assumed the paper would be a forgery and that Miles had lied to you but that doesn't seem to be the case.." He finally finished looking annoyed that he got something wrong. Kit was trying not to stare with his mouth open. He had thought he was being discrete, and even if he hadn't been the as cautious as he should, surely no one else could have possibly figured all of that out?

"Hold on." Kit said suddenly coming back to his senses. "You were right about the forgery, but not why?"

A shattering of glass pulled them out of their conversation, there was silence for half a heartbeat.

"Rook where are you? Come on out kid, we know you're in here." A man said, a melody of laughter from several people followed afterwards.

Kit felt his heart slamming against his chest, he was set up.

And they were going to kill him.


	2. Shadows

**This is the most I think I've ever written from Ty's perspective, I hope I did ok. Not awhole lot happens in retrospect but a partnership is born! And A few clues for whats to come sprinkled in as well.**

"They followed you here." Ty whispered to the boy, his blue eyes were wide with something Ty supposed was fear.

"Please tell me you have a back way out of here." Ty's eyes focused on a small string hanging on the ceiling just above them, he jerked his head motioning for him to follow and yanked the string letting the ladder from the attic fall. Ty began to climb without looking to see if the boy had followed him. Once they were both up in the attic they hastily lifted the ladder back up and secured the string on the inside of the attic in hopes of keeping it from being discovered. Ty felt his heart hammering as they heard the voices and footsteps get louder as the made their way into the kitchen just below them. If they looked up they would surely discover the entrance to the attic. They had to keep moving Ty concluded, as he edged his way slowly to the back of the room, the boy hesitantly following behind him.

Carefully, Ty unlocked the latch on the small window and lifted it open. It was just big enough to climb through. There was a small overhang outside of it, so they would have to take it one at a the time.

"We have to jump." He explained already climbing through the window, feeling his apron get caught on the hook he untied it and threw it aside climbing the rest of the way out.

"What? How far down is that?" He whispered urgently back, sticking his head out the window to take a look down. It was quite the drop, but nothing that should be fatal, unless they panicked Ty thought, taking the distance into quick consideration. He wasn't the most physically active but he had looked up methods of falling to ensure minimal injury in the past. If Sherlock Holmes found himself in life threatening situations then who knew when he would be preferable of course, to not try to make the jump, but in his mind it was either that or wait to be found by the nefarious men downstairs. So with that line of reasoning it was obvious to Tiberius what needed to be done. Ty kept his knees bent and leaped down from the roof coming to a soft thud in the grass, rolling onto his shoulders as his feet connected with the ground trying to distribute his weight. A pain shot through his knees in protest but he was able to stand up without difficulty.

He looked back up to see the boy standing on the roof, his eyes were wary. Ty watched as his blonde curls blow in the wind trying to obscure his face. He clearly lacked Ty's line of reasoning as he hesitated to take another step that could bring him closer to the ground. Ty began to shift impatiently, they didn't have much time.

"Don't be so slow." He called back up to him just loud enough for him alone to hear. The boy took a deep breath, closing his eyes tightly (which Ty didnt think was a very good idea) and jumped falling hard and fast. He managed to keep his knees bent at least but his legs still took the entire impact of his fall and as a result he immediately fell over after hitting the ground. Ty ran over to him and offered him a hand as he picked himself up with a groan. The boy's eyes flickered to his outstretched hand and up to his face before allowing Ty to help him up. His hand was warm, his grip had a sort of comforting pressure to it that surprised Ty. As he got to his feet Ty quickly let go of his hand, letting it fall back to his side.

"Um thanks.." The boy muttered, brushing himself off when a large crash from inside the shop made both of the boys jump. The boy turned his gaze back to Ty's.

"Come on follow me." He said before breaking out into a sprint down the nearest ally way, Ty following quickly after with only one last glance at his family's coffee shop.

He had followed the boy down a series of allies, even jumping a few fences that were blocking whatever path the boy had in mind. They were running for much longer than Ty thought was necessary, but then again he wasn't really sure where they were going. The only thing he could conclude was that the boy was trying to make sure no one followed them. Finally they came to the back of a house as they sneaked through the suburban neighborhood. Ty read a nearby street sign that said: "Victor Heights." The boy slide open the sliding glass doors and slipped inside the dark house. Ty hesitated, he had no idea whose home this was, or if this was even the boy's house. After a moment a hand appeared through the crack of the door waving him inside. Well at this point he didn't have a whole lot of options Ty decided, and walked inside.

As soon as he was inside the boy locked the door behind him and closed the curtains before turning on the lights (Ty wincing at the sudden brightness) and walked over to the couch in the living room and flopped down with one leg on the couch and the other hanging off, his left arm hung over the back. The home wasn't extravagant by any means, in fact it seemed a little minimalist with little to no personal effects that Ty was used to seeing in his own home. The house seemed to have a large living space right next to the kitchen that was only divided from the rest of the room by the bar. There were two rooms on the right and another on the far side of the wall.

"I'm Kit by the way." He said to Ty who was standing around unsure of what to do with himself.

"I'm Tiberius." He answered.

"I know." Kit said instantly, freezing a little after he said it. "I mean, I've seen your name tag." He added quickly.

"I figured as much, but you can call me Ty everyone does." He had assumed Kit had read his name tag , it was still pinned to his chest after all. Kit was quiet for a moment before pulling himself up in a rather exaggerated manner into a sitting position, his arms resting on his knees.

" So..What are you going to do now. Call the cops?" He said his voice low and measuring. Ty looked up at him, his eyes resting on a place just below his eyes. Out of his peripheral vision he could tell he was staring at him intensely, making Ty uncomfortable.

"What? Why would I do that?" He asked genuinely confused. The other boys eyebrows shot up now in confusion as well.

"Your- your store was just broken into. _I_ just broke into it and you dont think your employers will want to know what happend?"

"My employers are my family, so they will likely be more concerned about my safety than concerned with any criminal activity on my part." he said noticing that the boy looked surprised by this, possibly because he looked so different than the rest of his family.

"Oh, I thought- well nevermind, aren't you concerned about what I've gotten you involved in?" Ty begin to smile at that just adding to the boy's confusion.

"It sounds like you've got a mystery, I can help with that. Besides, it would appear that I've already been involved." Ty finally decided to take a seat in the armchair across from Kit.

"That paper I gave you, those transactions and meetings with your father it detailed were written in my brothers handwriting." He said pointing at the paper Kit still held in hands. He uncrumpled it scanning it's contents again.

"That's why you said you were wrong, Miles' information was good but he didn't have the proof so he forged it." He said trailing off. Ty felt the corners of his mouth quirk up.

"Very good Watson." Kit looked up at that, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"Did you just refer to me as Watson?" Ty ignored the question and chose to move on to more important matters.

"If Miles set you up aren't you worried he'll come after you again?" Kit leaned back on the sofa spreading his arms out clearly pleased with the direction the conversation had taken.

"Not really, that information I gave him? I told him it was the location of drop off for an A grade drug smuggle he's been trying to get in on. In actuality that's the info police have been spreading to some selective sources for their drug bust." He said casually with a hint of a smile, he was indeed the son of a conman.

Ty's smile widened.

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Kit had offered Ty to stay the night since the Blackthorn's didn't live far from Ambrosia Brews they decided it would be dangerous for him to try to return home that night. Kit took the couch saying he was used to sleeping there anyways on nights when he had to be ready to get up and leave at a moments notice in case one of his dad's deals went south. Ty was secretly grateful, unsure if he would have been able to get comfortable on the lumpy sofa. Kit's bedroom seemed to have more personality than the rest of the house. He had a few posters of bands hanging up, as well as comic book posters. There was a row of books on his dresser drawer ranging from fantasy titles to How-To-books on lying and deceit. Ty new he probably shouldn't be going through the other boys things but he couldn't help feeling extremely curious about him, wondering what sort of insight into Kit Rook these items could provide.

He moved over to the desk in the room that held a small laptop and school workbooks Ty had never seen before. He briefly flipped through the workbook before turning his attention to a few of the cds on the desk that was apparently for some kind of schooling program.

So he was homeschooled then, considering everything else he had gathered about him that made sense. Though, Ty had to admit it seemed a little lonely. Not that he had alot of friends at school but he did have his family at it was finally time for him to sleep and his family on his mind, Ty made his way into the bed, picking up his phone and stared at the screen. He really didn't want to talk to Jules yet before he had more answers but he also knew his siblings would be worried. Ty sent a quick text to his twin simply stating that he was fine and not to worry, that he would explain more later, before turning off his phone completely for the night, hoping that would suffice.

It took a long time for Ty to fall asleep that night, he always had a hard time getting used to new places, like new foods. Every new detail of the room seemed to be trying to grab his attention, and he couldn't quite silence the feeling that something was off as he tried to adjust to the new bed. He knew how his mattress dipped and curved with his body, how the shadows would fall on his face if he turned on his side, this mattress seemed to poke and prod him and weird ways and whatever material the comforter was made of was proving to be increasingly more itchy the longer it had contact with his skin. Eventually, Ty decided to try focusing on the shadows from the ceiling fan and watched as they danced across the walls, casting him in a shade of perfect grey, before finally falling asleep.

Ty was still tired when he woke up the next morning not having had that much sleep but his body was telling him to wake up. So getting up he picked up the comforter he had kicked onto the floor having had given up on it in the middle of the night giving and retrieved his phone turning it on. He was greeted with at least a dozen messages from his siblings. Ty stuffed the phone in his pocket deciding to deal with that in a little while and headed out to the living room.

Kit was leaning over the couch his arms resting on the headrest, a cup of coffee in his hands, he looked up at Ty as if he had interrupted him from a trance. Taking in the other boy's appearance of disheveled blonde curls, he never realized before how baggy his clothes seemed to be, the jeans he was wearing even sporting a few holes.

"Do you want some coffee? I just made a pot." He asked straightening up.

Ty shook his head taking a seat on the couch. " I don't like coffee." He picked up a pen from the table and began spreading out the papers they were looking at last night, twirling the pen in his hands feeling the grooves between his fingertips. Kit leaned forward, his face wasn't far from his, if he turned his head he could probably feel his breath. He could even smell him with how close he was, he smelled like that old comforter...it was strangely pleasant.

Ty gripped the pen harder.

"Really? Your family owns a coffee shop, that you yourself work at, and you don't even like coffee?" Kit asked looking over his shoulders to see what he was writing.

"It's too bitter." Ty said with a shrug.

"You could use creamer?" He suggested, Ty stole a peek at Kit's own coffee and wasn't surprised to see that he had apparently used creamer in his own cup.

"It's still too bitter." Kit didn't contest this and instead walked around to take a seat beside him.

"What are you writing exactly?"

"I think we should go over the details of the case, what we know so far." Ty said looking thoughtful.

"Calling it a case seems a little exaggerated." Kit challenged.

"There's a missing person, a drug ring, and people with hidden agendas, its a case."

"Fair enough." He said with a sigh combing back his curls with his hands, he had dark circles under his eyes, he must not have slept well either, though Ty could guess for much different reasons then his own. He wondered if he ever got any sleep anymore with his father missing and a list of people who would do him harm if they could find him.

"Does your father own this house? You move around alot thats why everything here is so minimal." After a moment of silence he added: "Am I right?" Kit gave him a look Ty couldn't decipher and picked up a letter from the coffee table.

"No, your right. But I'm guessing from all the mail we get addressed to a…. Malcom Fade, I would guess not." He said letting the letter fall back on the table. Ty considered this for a moment, making a mental catalog of all the new players.

"And who was Miles, why would he set you up?" He asked.

" If he got some good info and got my dad out of the way he probably figured that would pave a way for him into the was a sort of wannabe info broker like my dad. Only problem was he was shit at telling what was good intel from bad intel and didn't know where to get it. He's gotten himself into a corner recently selling some bad info to some pretty seriously scary people." He explained." But you can tell, what's good intel and what's not that is." Ty pointed out, making a note that Kit appeared to be just as adept at this business as his dad was. Kit looked like he was trying to hide a pleased smile that was trying to spread across his face as he picked up his coffee again. The phone rang suddenly, startling him out of his revere. Pulling his cell out of his pockets he glanced at the contact calling: "Jules". Flipping it open, he got up to walk into the kitchen.

"Hi Jules- I texted Livvy that I was fine...I know thats why I told her I was fine... Well there's no need to be worried... I know that..I'm...at a friends house." There was silence on the other line for a moment before he heard his brother call for their sister. "Hey Livvs..I said I would explain it later... I'll send the address for Jules to pick me up at." Ty shot a glance at Kit to make sure this was ok, the other boy just shrugged in response. Ty said a few goodbyes to his siblings before returning to the living room.

"Your parents?" Kit asked.

"No my parents are both dead, It was my brother, he's on his way to pick me up, he's upset cause I didn't call him when I was safe last night." Ty explained feeling a little agitated.

"That is something family tends to get upset about." Kit said shifting his gaze away as if he was suddenly reminded of something, but Ty's attention was elsewhere.

"I just didn't see the point in calling yet when I hadnt had a chance to discover anything and I knew he would rush over to get me as soon as he knew where I was." He said tapping his fingers against his arm.

They continued their conversation waiting for Julian's arrival asking each other questions about each other. Ty couldn't help but ask him about things he liked, if he liked to read and so forth. He found that he liked to study the other boy, similar to when he found a new species of insect. He wanted to know everything there was to know about it, to draw it over and over until he had every intricate detail memorized. But Kit was far more interesting then an insect, which in Ty's mind wasn't always the case. For instance the fact that the Thelca genus of butterflies…

He was letting his thoughts get away with him again, Ty pressed down harder on the cell phone in his hands letting the sensation come to the forefront of his mind. It wasn't long before a car horn outside announced his brothers arrival, Julian must have rushed over as fast as he could. Ty was about to head out the door before he realized something important and turned back around towards Kit, the pen still in his hand.

"Give me your hand." He said holding out his own, without hesitation the other boy outstretched his hand towards him. Ty held his hand still as a he scribbled his phone number on his palm. That strange sensation when he touched the other boy was back. It was different when he had held his sister's hand or when Julian ruffled his hair. He couldn't quite decide if it was a good thing or bad thing yet. Ty quickly withdrew his hand when he was done, Kit letting his hand hover there for a moment longer.

"You'll need to be able to get in contact with me, I'll be investigating Jules and his connection with your father in the meantime." Kit nodded and put his hands in pockets, walking him to the door. He didn't say goodbye but Ty never thought goodbyes were all that necessary anyways, he thought as he stepped out onto the lawn. The car's engine was still running waiting for him, Ty could see Julian's face still and expressionless, or at least it seemed that way to Ty. In the seat next to him was Livvy, and he could tell was anxious practically feeling it in his own body, her pony tail bobbing as she turned to see him. Ty felt a part of himself relax he didn't know was tensed when he saw her. Like piece of him had been returned and suddenly he felt more whole.

He had no idea what he would do without his twin.


	3. Mirror

The absence of Johnny Rook seemed to permeate everything in his former household. Which didn't make a lot of sense to Kit since his father wasn't home that much to begin with. In fact they haven't even lived in the house that long, certainly not long enough for it be filled with nostalgic memories of his father. Still, Kit felt it like an ever growing ache as the days went by. Maybe it was just knowing the fact his father wouldn't be returning home again.

No.

Kit tried to get rid of those thoughts, he didn't _know_ that his father wasn't returning. He could come home one night just like any other, kick off his shoes, grab a cup of coffee, tell Kit about some con he had run while leaving out the more interesting details, which always drove Kit crazy. Then he would ask if Kit had done his schoolwork and never bother to check it, and instead returning to the living room to pick up one of his old favorite books to read. Kit's life was never filled with his father's presence but it was all he had, and he wasn't sure he knew how to live without it.

Kit poured himself a cup of coffee pouring himself a generous sum of sugar, glad that no one was around to judge him for it. He stared into the liquid seeing a muddy reflection of himself looking back at him. The sugar packet felt heavy in his hand as he thought back to the black haired boy, Ty, who seemed to know that he preferred flavored coffee over black, despite what he liked to pretend sometimes. Ty had offered to help him find his father even after he had broken into his families coffee shop and almost gotten him killed by some gang members that were apparently gunning for him now. Kit didn't know what to make of the other boy yet, he was brilliant, and made up entirely of dark shadows and pale angles, but he also might be a little suicidal to get involved with Kit just to solve a mystery. Still Ty had a point, if his brother knew anything then he was already involved, so what could it hurt to involve him a little more?

Kit flipped open his phone and found the contact he was looking for, his finger hovering over the call button while he rationalized calling. He could just ignore the other boy, never contact him again, after all he didn't really even know Tiberius Blackthorn. But then again Kit had to admit to himself that he might be out of his depth, at least that's what he told himself was the reason for pressing the call button, and certainly not because he was lonely.

When Kit had gotten of the phone with Ty he found himself marginally more calm than he had been, there was something about the other boy's voice with its low and rich tones that he found soothing.

God, he really was lonely.

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Kit walked up the steps to the public library reading a text letting him know that Ty was already inside. The calmness that he had felt earlier seemed to dissipate replaced with a strange sense of excitement as he walked inside eager to find Ty at one of the computers. When he found him Ty nodded his head in Kit's direction in acknowledgement, his gaze flickering over to him for just a moment before returning to the screen. Kit sat down in the chair next to him his arm hanging off the headrest.

"So why did you want to meet at the library?" Kit asked, looking over at the screen, Ty seemed to be looking up some sort of registry of documents.

"I needed to look up something and the internet has limited resources." Ty said leaning back.

"The internet has limited sources?" Kit repeated feeling the corner of his mouth twitch.

"The library has documentation of public records, some of which no one has bothered to transcribe onto the computer, or put it online." He said.

"Does this have to do with something you found out about your brother?" Kit asked.

"No. I haven't found anything except that when I was looking at the documents in the office helping himclean up, I noticed that everything was written in his hand besides the signatures." Ty answered tapping his fingers on the desk in agitation, though Kit had no idea why.

"What does that mean exactly?" Kit asked unsure he was following.

"It means….nevermind, were here because of your name." He cut himself off clearly not wanting to continue the line of discussion.

"My name?" Kit blinked.

"Your last name to be exact. Rook doesn't really seem like a real name, actually it seems too perfect of a descriptor for your father to be his real name. It literally means to cheat someone out of their money." Kit thought back to how he used to think it was funny how people used to call Johnny, Rook the Crook growing up. He didn't think it was so funny now.

"And in terms of chess the rook is one of the few pieces that can take down a king by itself. At the beginning of the match rook's are placed in the back allowing for the other pieces to move first into position. It's a perfect metaphor." Ty finished, Kit felt himself snapping out of a sort of daze as if the implication that his name wasn't even his own started to dawn on him.

"Thats ridiculous you think my father changed his name and...and never even told me what my real name was?" As if Blackthorn sounded like a real name, he thought to himself, it sounded like a name from a fantasy novel.

"It explains why I can't find any record of a Jonathan Rook anywhere. I figured maybe the library might have some local documentation that could give us a clue." Kit thought back to the chess analogy, he had never really played chess growing up though he used to mess around on computer chess years ago. He tried to remember what piece the rook was, the one that looked like a castle he thought, an idea jumping into his head.

"Wait how many rooks are on each side?" He asked turning to look at Ty who stopped drumming his fingers against the desk and smiled wide transforming his face, and Kit couldn't help but stare. It was like looking at his opposite in a mirror. While he had blonde curls and tanned skin, Ty had dark straight hair and a pale complexion. Their eyes though, he thought absently, the light blue and true grey colours would compliment each other.

"Two." He said sounding pleased. "When were you born?"

"In 1997." Kit answered following his gaze as Ty typed something into the computer. When the search result popped up, Ty scanned it quickly getting up before Kit had even read the contents and scrambled to follow after him. They came to a section in the back that seemed to be mostly files and loose documents with a few books on local history. Ty picked up a file filled with newspapers from 1997 and began flipping through it.

"Here." He said stopping on a headline and handing it over to Kit. He gripped the folder, the headline read:

"Terrible Car Crash Kills Man." The article explains how a young man had suffered a terrible crash after falling asleep at the wheel, the roof of the vehicle caving in killing him instantly. The man's name was Jonathan Herondale, often affectionately known as Johnny.

Kit felt his knuckles whiten as he gripped the folder tighter, this was his father he just knew it somehow.

"He must have changed his name just after you were born." Ty said. Kit didn't respond, he was staring at the date, just after Kit was born, after his mother had left them both behind, because there was only two Rook's in a chess game.

"Are you upset?" Ty asked cocking his head to the side slightly. Kit felt as wave of impatience wash over him that left as quickly as it had come when he looked over at Ty. If it was anyone else he would have said something sarcastic pointing out how obvious that was. But from what he's known about Ty, he was probably just legitimately trying to figure out the answer.

"I don't know Ty, I don't know how to feel about this." He forced himself to answer. Ty seemed to consider this, putting his hands in pockets fiddling with something before finally saying:

"If it's any consolation I don't think my brother is who I thought he was either."

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Ty informed Kit on how he hasn't found any document regarding the coffee shop other then the bill of sale and the signatures that weren't written by his brother. Indicating to Ty that his brother maybe running the business completely on his own. This opened up a new realm of questions reguarding his almost completely absent uncle and why he wasent contributing. The two continued to talk and weaved in and out of the bookshelves, they briefly stopped in the fantasy section. Ty apparently seemed uninterested in a story that lacked a logical bases. In which Kit picked up a Harry Potter book and explained how it was essentially a mystery story in fantasy setting making Ty regard it with a little more interest. Eventually they made it the mystery section, a book catch Kit's eye, reaching out he plucked it from the book shelf and showed the cover to Ty.

"So I'm guessing Sherlock Holmes is more your style?" Ty's eyes lit up as he saw the book in his hands and Kit couldn't help but feel he did something right.

"Do you like Sherlock? Have you read it?" He asked excitedly.

"I mean, I've seen things based on Sherlock...but no I haven't actually read it." Kit stumbled suddenly wishing he could have pleased the other boy with more knowledge of the book in his hands.

"Hey, wait is that why you called me Watson before?" Ty just shrugged taking the book from Kit's hands to look at it feeling the grooves of the paper underneath his fingertips.

"One day I hope to be a detective, but I know I'll need a partner to help with things i'm not good at. You seemed like you could be a good fit, if you wanted." Kit felt a strange warmth go through him at those words and a sense of recognition he wasent quite used to.

" Ok but who says I'm not the Sherlock in this dynamic?" Said Kit. Ty turned to face him, his brows narrowed in concentration as he studied Kit's expression.

"Your joking...right?" He asked in such a serious tone that made Kit burst out laughing, alarming Ty at first but then smiling a little shyly.

"Yes Ty." Kit finally got out still beaming at the other boy.

"It was a bad joke then." Ty said smiling wider, making Kit laugh even more. His laughter must have been contagious because even Ty joined in this time, both boys doubling over in laughter only to be shushed by a very wiry and snooty looking librarian. They boy's stifled their snickering till they were finally able to return back to their conversation.

"So if your brother knows more than what he's letting on, what are you gonna do?" Kit asked dropping his voice to a whisper as he caught the librarian still giving them a dirty look. Her eyes narrowed in ageless disappointment.

"I've done what I can on my own which is where you come in Watson-" Ty started.

"I still never agreed to be your sidekick-"

"It's about time you met Julian and the rest of my family. Theoretically you should have an easier time telling if he's hiding something than I would."Ty finished ignoring Kit's protests.

Kit nodded his head in agreement over the plan, but in reality something about the thought of meeting Ty's family left him feeling strangely nervous.

It was just the idea of getting closer to finding his father he told himself, unable to stop himself from shooting a glance at the dark haired boy beside him.


	4. Twin

Ty turned around to face Kit as they reached the front door to his house.

"...and you'll get to meet Livvy, my twin, she'll want to meet you. And then there's Jules.." Ty hesitated thinking. "He might be a little difficult at first but he's just protective." Kit was scratching the back of his head again, which was the seventh time today according to Ty's count, and from what Ty had observed he wasn't much of a head scratcher usually, nor did he usually tug at his clothes so much but he was doing that again too. _He was nervous_ , Ty realized.

And he was pretty sure his attempts to ease his mind were not helping. But he wasn't quite sure himself how his siblings, especially Jules, would react to him bringing home a friend. He had never brought someone home before, he had never really felt the need to bring even the people he had occasional conversation with at school back home with him. Ty risked at glance at Kit, he was looking away from him so Ty took the chance to look at his eyes, an interesting blue. But Kit was different, so surely his family would see that and treat him differently as well?

Ty thought back to his conversation with Julian when he tried to convince him to let Kit come over.

"Kit Rook? The same Kit who broke into our store?" Julian had said pacing around the chair Ty was sitting calmly in.

"Yes, that's him."

"The same Kit that you ran off with?"

"That is correct."

" And then proceeded to stay the night with him without even giving me a call?" Ty let out a sigh, his impatience weighing on him.

"I don't know why you keep asking me that Jules, the chances that there is a second Kit I have met over the past two weeks is statistically unlikely." He said, the tempo of his finger tapping increased to match his agitation. Ty noticed the corner of Jules' mouth twitch as if he was trying to fight a smile. He remembered Julian saying once that he had "a smart mouth", which was ridiculous to Ty for several reasons. First of all his mouth was just a mouth and therefore could not actually be smart. Second of all if he meant it as a turn of phrase that Ty was stating something in a manner meant to implement humour, that was also false when he was just merely stating the facts. Or maybe he was just unintentionally hilarious. He thought back to the other day in the library of how he had made Kit laugh unexpectedly. Maybe he would try telling him some jokes sometime…

Ty barely touched the door knob when the front door flung open as Livvy sprang outside to greet them. Ty was not nearly as startled by this as Kit, knowing his sister she had probably been waiting on the other side of the door till she felt Ty was ready to bring Kit inside. Livvy straightened up and eyed Kit up and down her eyebrows raising as she took him in.

"Wow, Ty's description of you was quite accurate." She said letting out a low whistle.

"And what description was that?" Kit asked fidgeting uncharacteristically again.

"The blonde one." She quoted with a mischievous grin. Ty had in fact given her the simple description of the "blonde one" when she asked him which regular from the coffee shop Kit was. In apt description that Ty still stood by. He looked over at Kit who was grinning at him again, maybe he _did_ think he was funny. Now he just had to figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Livs, move so we can get inside, I brought him for a reason you know." Ty said a little impatiently, Livvy moved out of the way and waved Kit inside, bouncing back through the doorway. It was clear that Livvy was going to implement herself making Ty's and Kit's duo into a trio. Normally Ty wouldn't have minded this, preferring Livvy's company over anyone else's. But something felt different this time, Ty just didn't know exactly what, which was even more annoying then the feeling itself.

Ty lead them to the small sitting room on the second floor where they all took seats near the window, Livvy and Kit already engaged in what others called "small talk". Ty knew Livvy was trying to get a read on Kit, he felt a pang of guilt as he thought of how his twin must have been feeling lately spending so much time with this boy she didn't even know.

"But what are you going to do for money?" Livvy asked the two on the topic of Kit's missing father.

"I'm sure I'll think of something.." Kit muttered a glint in his eyes.

"Stealing isn't the best idea in your current situation." Ty said reading his mind. Ty watched him shoot a glance at him out of the corner of his eyes as he took a seat next to his sister. Kit just shrugged instead of protesting, he knew by now Ty wouldn't have believed him if he had tried.

"You could work at the coffee shop! Its not alot of money, sure, but it's enough to buy food at least." Livvy said excitedly.

"Yeah I dont think your brother has the best opinion of me to be asking for a job from him." He dismissed.

"Don't worry about that, me and Ty can handle him." She said waving her hand. "Besides I'm sure he'll understand now that he knows-" Her words faltered as she realized what she was saying, shooting Ty a nervous glance. Kit whipped his head to look at him.

"You told your brother? How much does he know?" His voice was low and soft, he must be upset Ty concluded.

"About you? Almost everything, except that I suspect his involvement with your father. It's not a big deal, we need to suss out what he knows anyways and that means giving him certain information." Kit relaxed remaining silent, he must realize he was right, Ty rationalized.

"Look it's not a big deal, don't be worrying about my finances I've got bigger problems." Kit finally said. Ty stood suddenly, Livvy and Kit's heads snapping up to look at him.

"I'll be back." He said before leaving the room. Livvy, not surprisingly caught up with him on the stairs.

"Ty-ty.." She said quietly reaching for his hand. He must seem so strange to her lately, she was looking at him as if she was unsure about him. She had never been unsure about anything to do with him before. He gripped her hand squeezing it gently, telling her that he was fine.

"Stay with Kit I'm going to talk Julian about giving him a job." Her eyes widened at his statement.

"But he said he didn't want our help Ty, I don't know…"

"He's lying, he feels guilty about asking for our help after he broke into our shop. He's proud he won't ask for help even if he needs it." Ty let her hand drop, her face turned away from him.

"I thought maybe you were just interested in the whole mystery with his father but…" She looked back up at him, her face clearing. A mischievous smile on her face like he was used to.

"You can count on me, I'll keep him distracted just don't keep me waiting too long."

Livvy watched her twin go as he descended the steps to achieve his mission. She had always been able to read her brother like an extension of herself, something their older brother Julian had always been jealous of. And Ty had always been able to read her like he couldn't anyone else. It was a fact that she was proud of, a fact that proved she was special to him. So how was it that he could read this boy he hardly knew so well that he could recognize when to step in and help him without him even asking him to? She wasn't used to seeing her brother take so much interest in someone who wasn't his family. But clearly he must have found some kind of kinship with Kit.

Livvy entered the room determined to figure out what it was about Kit that had caught her brother's attention. He was attractive enough that was for sure, with golden curls, high cheek bones and eyelashes that made him look much more innocent then Livvy knew he was. It must be easy to make a living conning people when you looked like that, not that looks probably factored into her brothers interest in him.

"Where did Ty go?" Kit asked her as she sat back down across from him. He looked at little nervous like he was trying to hide it with her brother gone.

"He's going to go check on a weasel he rescued, make sure Jules hasn't found him yet." She lied.

"Does he make a habit of bringing stray animals home?"

"It's better then when he used to bring home snakes, it would freak Jules out so bad he band all reptiles in the house venomous or not." Poor Julian she thought, he was always so worried. Kit seemed to smile at the idea.

"What's it like having so many siblings? I mean I don't have any siblings, but it seems like Ty tells me he has yet _another_ brother or sister every other day." That was interesting, Kit hadn't know Ty that long. She wondered how often they had been talking on the phone.

" It's pretty nice you're never lonely, but then again your _never_ lonely. It's not so bad with our older siblings, Mark is back home from college after a bad breakup with his boyfriend, but Helen lives far way with her wife so we don't see her that often. Jules kinda takes care of us after our parents died since our Uncle Arthur always keeps to himself. But Dru can get a bit intense, I think she's entering her teenage rebellion phase early thanks to all those horror and occult movies. And Tavvy is just seven and always wants attention." She did a mental count in her head she was pretty sure that was all her siblings.

"So how is having a twin different then another sibling?" She wasn't surprised Kit asked that, it was something they got a lot.

"Well maybe other people are different, but for me, Ty's been my best friend literally since we've been born." She said thoughtfully thinking about her twin.

"So do you have any of that cool twin telepathy powers?" He said with a playful smile. Livvy was pretty sure he wouldn't have ever asked Ty that question, and imagining what his expression would be was making her crack up a little bit.

"Oh yeah, I can read Ty's mind for one. For example, I know everything he was thinking when he spent the night at your house..." She said leaning over, Kit seemed to straighten up at that.

"Liiiike how your homeschooled, and your father was grooming your to be like him, your bed is really lumpy, and how when you sleep you drool, everywhere.." Kit's eyes widened a blush creeping up under his tanned skin.

Livvy burst out laughing. "Im kidding! Relax!" Kit gave her unamused look but he coudn't help smiling just a little.

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Ty had found Julian doing laundry, carefully folding his siblings clothes as neatly as possible in several different piles. Ty watched him, it was an activity he often found himself volunteering to do. Like setting the table for dinner, Ty enjoyed the methodical routine of repeating a simple task over and over. It was something he found soothing, while not being too distracting.

"So What is it you wanted to talk about?" His brother asked trying to fold one of Dru's dresses. Ty wasn't really sure how he should begin the conversation so he just decided to jump into and cut the pretenses.

"I know you've been running the coffee shop all on your own, though I don't know why. I also know you met with Johnny Rook before he went missing, so maybe the business isn't doing that well."

Julian froze, and slowly turned towards his brother, putting down the dress he was holding.

"Ty ,how did you know that?" He asked finally.

"Are you going to tell me what's been going on?" Ty deflected. Julian let out a sigh, leaning back against the washing machine.

"Uncle Arthur isn't well. He hasn't been for along time, so I've been running things instead." Ty thought this over for a moment. He hardly ever saw his uncle, he was disappointed in himself that he hadn't seen this. He also felt guilty that Julian had been taking care of everything on his own.

"Maybe Mark or Helen can help. I'm sure if we told them-" He began.

"No, no Ty, I can handle this. I've been doing this for along time we don't need to worry anyone." Julian said gently putting his hands lightly on Ty's shoulder. Ty wasn't sure this was a good solution, Julian was only seventeen after all, even if he had been taking care of them on his own it didn't mean he should have to.

"Do you understand?"

"Yes, but...Jules?" Ty never bothered to think before how much his brother had done for them even though he wasn't even the oldest, especially for him.

"Yes?" Julian asked letting go of him thinking Ty didnt want to be touched. Instead Ty tentatively wrapped his arms around his brother. Jules seemed so much younger somehow now, as Ty hugged him. He realized how close in size they actually were. Julian always seemed so much older then him, but in reality they were only two years apart. They were about the same height even. Ty had always pictured Jules as always had, taller, mature, and always comforting big brother. The same big brother who drew him pictures when he was younger of phrases he didn't understand. The same brother who got him a stuffed bee he used to carry around everywhere. And the same brother that would cradle him to sleep as he cried restlessly after their father died. Sure he hadn't done those things in years, but he had always seen him as just the same, this constant figure of relentless protection.

But he didn't have to be.

Julian stood there for a moment before giving Ty a gentle squeeze back, when he finally pulled away Ty thought his brothers eyes were looking unusually bright.

"One more thing…" He began.

"What is it?" Julian cleared his throat, his voice coming out thicker then normal.

"Can you give Kit a job?"


	5. Clouds

Kit stood behind the counter of Ambrosia Brews staring blankly at the various coffee makers trying to remember the difference between a cappuccino and a latte. Livvy and Ty were working in perfect synchronization, leaving very little room for Kit. The twins had volunteered to train Kit for his new job which he was grateful for but equally horrified at how incompetent he had been in front of them.

Livvy tapped him on the shoulder. "Espresso, over here." She said pushing him towards the right machine. Kit moved mechanically forward, relieved she spared him in front of Ty. He was pretty sure he was slowly convincing Ty that he was an idiot. And he could tell he was annoying Ty slightly by his breaking his and Livvy's routine

. Kit placed the cup under the nozzle and was about to press the button when Ty walked up behind him and plucked the cup from his hands replacing it with a styrofoam one.

"To-go order means to-go cup." He said simply before walking back to the counter leaving him alone again.

"Help me!" He hissed at Livvy getting her attention.

"Well you could start listening to people when taking orders for one." She said giggling at his panic.

"Ugh, why would I want to do that? Can't everyone just get normal regular coffee?" He groaned finally making the to-go espresso and securing the lid.

"Oh, with lots of sugar like you?" She said raising an eyebrow at him.

"I drink coffee with a statement, black like my angsty teenage soul." He retorted only to be interrupted by Ty from across the room.

"Your favorite coffee is pumpkin spice." He said without even turning around from what he was doing. Livvy let out a loud snort as she laughed.

"What's so funny?" Kit and Ty asked in unison, Kit with embarrassment Ty with curiosity.

"That is….that is so you Kit." She said trying to cover her mouth to stifle her laughter.

"Ha ha very funny Livs, I get it I'm basic." He glared at her before turning to Ty. "And how did you even know that?"

"When I used to serve you coffee I noticed that you drank the pumpkin spice the fastest. So I concluded it must be your favorite." He shrugged. Both Kit and Livvy were silent staring at him. He wasn't sure if this was the type of thing that Ty had noticed about everyone but he couldn't help but feel touched by this.

"Did I say something weird?" Ty asked sounding self conscious for the first time Kit had ever heard. His hands fluttering nervously at his sides.

"No of course not! I just didn't think you would pay attention to those kinds of things.." _About me,_ he wanted to add.

"Maybe your just not giving yourself enough credit, your pretty interesting Kit. Besides I do want to be a detective, noticing things is sort of the job." He said before grabbing a dish rag and heading to the back, leaving Kit to stare after him.

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It had been a long day and the coffee shop had been unusually busy in which Kit spent the day getting orders wrong, spilling coffee, swearing under his breath, and almost coming over the counter after people who heard what he was saying under his breath. So after a long day of making messes and watching Ty and Livvy clean up after him, he was ready to hide under a rock and never re-surface.

Kit was helping close down, picking up plates and wiping off tables when Ty walked up to him.

"I have some more information about our case if you want to hangout when were done here to discuss it." He said helping Kit arrange the condiments back on the table after he had cleaned it.

"I want to but I really need to clean my place. I haven't really gotten around to it yet since my dad went missing." Kit frowned thinking of the chores he had put off, letting the house get more messy than he could remember it ever being.

"I could come over and help with that if you want. I don't mind cleaning." Ty offered.

"You sure? I mean yeah, that would be great, you know if you want." Kit sputtered, surprised Ty would want to spend his evening after work helping Kit clean his house.

"Sure, that's why I offered. I'll let Julian and Livvy know." He said walking back over to his sister. Kit couldn't help smiling to himself. Cleaning suddenly sounded alot more fun for some reason.

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As it turned out Ty wasn't very good at cleaning. Kit had suspected that Julian did alot more chores around the house then Ty or his siblings realized when he walked in on Ty trying to clean a mirror with clorox wipes. Kit had then decided to delegate Ty to the tasks of doing laundry and dishes since, he was adamant that he knew how to do that.

Kit brushed some loose strands from his forehead that were coming undone from the bobby pins he had stuck in his hair to keep them out of his eyes. Not wanting to get his pants soaked, he had also stuffed a dish towel in his pants as a makeshift apron since he refused to wear his stupid work one at home on principal.

Kit looked up at the mirror Ty had possibly ruined thanks to his lack of knowledge on common cleaning products. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit and shook his head. He was sure Ty knew what he was doing with the laundry but he might want to check on him just in case.

Kit opened the door to the laundry room to see Ty surrounded in neat organized piles of clothes, holding up a pair of Kit's boxers.

Kit went a deep shade of red, how could he forget that doing laundry also meant his underwear?

"Um!" Kit sputtered. Ty just looked up at him waiting for him to start making sense.

"Uh, maybe you should leave the underwear for me." He tried, but Ty was still looking confused.

"Why? You asked me to do laundry and your underwear is laundry?" Ty asked. Kit felt his cheeks burn.

"It just kind of embarrassing is all." He wasn't really sure he could bare explaining to Ty why that was. Ty looked back at the boxers in his hands.

"Is it because their star wars boxers?" He asked in a gravely serious voice.

"Hey! Star Wars is awesome and you would know that if you actually watched it. You would also know what a devilishly handsome Han Solo like rogue I am." He said snatching the underwear away from Ty.

"If your Han Solo then who am I?" He asked curiously. Kit felt the corners of his mouth twitch.

"You would have to be Chewie then." Kit joked despite knowing Ty wouldnt get it.

"I feel like I'm missing some context here." He said sounding perplexed.

"Honestly though, I don't think I can think of any character quite like you." Kit said thoughtfully.

"Because I'm different?" He asked, not like he was self conscious but as if it was just a logical conclusion to what Kit was saying.

"Yeah? But in a good way, I don't know Ty your just…" _Pretty amazing_. Kit was thinking but stopped himself. He felt like he was on the verge of saying something he shouldn't.

"Well I guess if your Han Solo I wouldn't mind being Chewbacca." Ty said making Kit do a double take.

"Wait- I thought you didn't know who I was talking about?" He said suddenly afraid that Ty might not find his joke at being compared to a giant fur ball who mostly communicated in screams funny.

"I do go on the internet you know, It's very hard to not pick up a little Star Wars trivia as a result." He said giving Kit a rare smile, lighting up his face. Kit felt himself growing red again for some reason.

"Besides, we do have a few things in common."

"How so?" Kit asked. Though he had made the joke, he doubted anyone would actually compare him to Han Solo, and even though he was sure Ty could beat him in a game of chess, he was pretty sure for a much different reason then intimidation.

"Were best friends for one, and you understand me better than anyone else." Ty said suddenly looking away from Kit. Kit was pretty sure Livvy knew him better than he did, but that didn't seem to really be what he was saying. Kit just smiled stupidly trying to think of something else as touching to say. Just when he decided on saying something before he thought better of it, the doorbell rang.

"Are you expecting someone." Ty asked.

"No, the only visitors we ever got were my fathers clients." He said slowly, looking out in the hallway.

Kit made Ty stand a good feet behind him just in case the visitor was an old client of his dads. He wasn't exactly known for his good company after all. Kit looked through the eye hole on the door, confused he opened the door. Standing in the doorway was a tall beautiful woman with long dark hair in a professional looking pants suit. In her hands she held a briefcase. When he opened the door her eyes darted from Kit's to Ty's, widening in surprise.

"Tiberius?" She said forgetting about Kit for a moment."

"Diana Wrayburn." Ty stated, Kit guessed probably for his benefit.

"I'm sorry, who are you and what business do you have with Ty?" He asked. Suddenly feeling protective he closed the door a fraction to block Ty from her view.

"I'm here for you actually." She said sounding a little nervous. focusing her attention back on him. Ty came up from behind him and opened the door to join in on the conversation.

"She works for child services Kit."

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"So how do you know the Blackthorns exactly?" Kit asked as they took their seats in the living room. Kit had begrudgingly let her in despite the fact that he knew this conversation was not going to go anywhere good. It's not like he could do anything about it now.

"I was assigned to make sure the Blackthorns transitioned comfortably into their new home with their uncle after their father passed away. Though I haven't seen any of you in a few years. It's good to see you again Tiberius." She said a little uncomfortably but not without warmth. Ty nodded in her direction as acknowledgment.

"So this is Julian's fault he called social services on me." Kit said leaning back on the couch with his arms crossed. Ty's head shot up looking alarmed.

"He was only trying to help. You could be in serious danger here Christopher."

"Kit." Both Kit and Ty corrected her at the same time. Kit shot a glance at Ty but he wasn't looking at him. Instead his hands were moving in his laps restlessly.

"Er..right." She looked between the two as if unsure of what to make of them. " Kit I am sorry, I know this is hard but it really is in your best interest you stay somewhere else while I try to contact your remaining family." She said sincerely.

"I don't _have_ any other family." Kit challenged.

"There arent alot from the the Herondale side of your family but I'm confident someone will want to take you in once they know of you." She said trying to placate him but that only made him shoot up suddenly, sitting arrow straight. He whirled around to look at Ty who was looking pale.

"You _told_ him?" He said sounding more hurt then angry.

"No, not about you really being a Herondale, I told you everything he knows." Ty said quickly, but he seemed even more nervous now playing the the hem of his sweater. Kit settled back in his chair and glared across the coffee table at Diana.

"So what now? Are you going to haul me off to some home or drag me to some long lost family that never cared that my father went missing the first time?"

"No, actually in the meantime Julian has offered you to stay with them until I can arrange things with your family." She said sounding a little irritated now herself.

"Oh." Was all Kit had to say to that feeling a little deflated.

"If you want to hurry up and pack something I'll take you both over there. You can always come back later if you need." She said back trying to feel comforting.

After Kit had packed a bag with a few necessities he dragged Ty down to the basement. It was full of clutter, most of it belonging to the landlord then to his dad, dust covered every inch of the place seeing as no one hardly came down here.

"I don't know when we're coming back and now that the government is involved so is the police. so let's take a quick look to see if we can find anything important while we still can." Kit said scanning the room. Ty got right to work searching the area, Kit walked up to an old bench that held an abundance unopened letters. He recognized them as the "wrong address" letters they got occasionally. Johnny must have been storing them down here for some reason. Kit opened the contents of the letters. They appeared to be billing statements, but why were they forwarded to this address for all of these people?

Ty walked up behind him scanning the letter he was holding over his shoulder, then he picked up the pile, quickly flipping through them.

"I think we should go with Diana now." He said quietly, his brows furrowed.

"Why?" Kit asked surprised.

"Because all of these people are dead. I think these were your landlords other tenants that's why they were forwarded here."

"How do you know their dead?" Kit asked, the weight of what he was saying making his head swim.

" I keep track of the local obituaries. I thought it might be useful, and apparently it was." Ty said stuffing the letters into the duffel bag they had brought downstairs with them. The two of them hurried up the stairs to meet with Diana, no longer feeling safe hanging around the house.

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Kit and Ty sat in the back of the car as Diana drove them to the Blackthorns. Thankfully, she was giving them space and thanks to her large subaru Kit could almost pretend she wasn't there. He was lost in thought at what was going to happen next as he sat beside Ty in silence.

"Kit I think I should apologize." Ty started breaking the silence and jolting Kit back to the car. "I know you must be mad, and I realize now that I should have listened to you about telling Julian what was going on. I'm sorry...I.." Ty stumbled over his words looking increasingly frustrated as he tried to voice what he was feeling. His hands were flexing and unflexing in his lap.

Kit reached over and took his hand squeezing it like he had seen Livvy do to comfort him. Ty seemed to relax and squeezed back.

"Hey I'm not mad at you. If it wasn't for you I'd be doing this on my own, and well, let's face it I'd probably be dead without your help." He felt his heart stutter as Ty began to smile. "I knew I couldn't trust the police but that was ok cause I had you."

"But now they might send you away to live with people you don't even know." Ty was looking away from him biting his lip like the idea of Kit moving away really bothered him. It made him grip his hand even tighter. Everything about Tiberius seemed to make him feel warm.

"Then we'll just have to find my dad first." Kit gave him an encouraging smile. Ty nodded seeming a little more relieved. He leaned his head back on the seat and closed his eyes probably listening to the music he had in, Kit thought.

Kit didn't let go of his hand though, maybe he just wanted to make sure that Ty was next to him and wasn't leaving him anytime soon. He turned his head to look out the window at the sky. It was dusk out and the sky was a bleached red color with streaks of brilliant pink. There was a cloud that floated above them, it almost looked like a dove with large wings. He watched as it suddenly began to break apart, chipped away around the edges before the center gave way.

He wondered if it was caught among a briar of thorns.


	6. Attractions

**Oh wow has this AU ran away on me...This was a coffee shop AU right? Whoops...Someone send help..**

Kit seemed to be adjusting well to life at the Blackthorn house. He appeared to be getting along well with the other Blackthorn siblings and even started taking shifts at work without Livvy and himself. Though Ty still brought it upon himself to make sure Julian never scheduled Kit for a shift with Mark. He was worried Ambrosia Brews might find itself on fire if those two were left in charge of the shop. Even though things seemed to be going smoothly for Kit, he couldn't help but find the first few nights with Kit as something like awkward.

The first night Diana had brought Ty and Kit home, Julian had pulled a spare mattress into Ty's room for Kit, since they didn't exactly have enough room for all the Blackthorns nonetheless Kit (Tavvy had moved into Mark's room when he went to college. On breaks they now shared the room). Ty had laid restlessly in his bed that night. He wanted to make sure Kit was alright, and above all else he wanted to talk about the new development in their case. However, Kit was his best friend and took precedence over Ty quieting his restless mind, and right now he probably wanted space. Discovering the landlord might be responsible for the death of his tenants increased the likelihood that Kit's father was dead by at least 40%, and the percentage was already at 56%.

Ty had kept his calculations to himself not wanting to upset Kit, and something told him now was not the time to enlighten him. Still, his mind was buzzing. The combination of the details of the case rolling around in his brain and the boy sleeping near him was keeping him alert and wide awake. Ty turned his head to the side, he could just see the top of Kit's head from the edge of his mattress, blond curls obscuring his face. Ty wasn't sure what sleepovers were supposed to be like never having interest in one before, but he doubted he was supposed to feel so...nervous. Seeing Kit near him in the dark even on a different mattress was filling him with a sort of anxious energy.

Ty shifted his thoughts once again to the puzzle that was Kit Rook. Ty had yet to solve the mystery of why Kit was so different from everyone else. Or at least he seemed to be to Ty and he couldn't tell if he was really as different as he seemed, or if Ty was the different one. But it wasn't just the way that he was, it was also the way Kit made him _feel._ He was more focused, more alert and somehow more distracted when he was around. Nervous and calm, confident and vulnerable. All contradictions that Ty couldn't make sense of. Whatever it was, Kit was _something._ Something rare, special. And as Ty looked over the edge of his bed to look at Kit curled up and sleeping a little fitfully he thought:

Something to protect.

Kit started mumbling in his sleep, his eyebrows scrunching up in discomfort, his expression contorting from peaceful to distressed and Ty felt his own heart contort with him.

Kit's mumbling became more pronounced and clear as he started asking for his dad, his voice almost timid sounding.

"Dad?"

His heart felt heavy at how small and hopeful that voice was. Kit _never_ sounded like that. Ty got out of bed and gingerly got on his knees beside Kit and crawled over to him.

Should he wake him up or let him be? Ty wasn't sure. Hesitantly, he raised his hand to shake Kit's shoulder when Kit flinched as the shadow passed over his face. Ty almost thought he heard the other boy make a small whimpering noise. Ty stopped what he was doing and just placed his hand on Kit's shoulder squeezing gently to try to comfort him.

Kit automatically relaxed under Ty's grip and before he could remove his hand, Kit said something else that surprised him.

"Ty.." Kit exhaled, his features softing, falling back into a restful sleep.

Ty froze in astonishment looking down at the sleeping boy. Did he really have that kind of effect on him? Ty had never asked himself if he wanted to leave a big impression on others lives. He never thought he would be the kind of person that could calm someone by just being around them. He never cared enough to want that.

But he did now.

For Kit, he wanted it badly.

Ty decided to lay down beside him, keeping his arm half way draped over the other boy. He wouldn't fall asleep here, he would just stay long enough to make sure Kit would sleep peacefully, at least for tonight.

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Ty was sitting at his desk in homeroom next to his sister Livvy. Livvy was staring at the door to the classroom looking annoyed, while Ty was hard at work on organizing his case notes with new inspired energy. Today was supposed to be Kit's first day at school but somewhere on their way to the classroom Kit had slipped away from them.

"Where did he run off to? Is he just trying to make an entrance?" Livvy huffed.

"He probably thought he could sneak out of the school without anyone noticing. He's only here because of Diana." Ty said scratching out some notes.

Just as expected only after the bell rang suggesting all students should be in there seats, only then did Kit appear. Just as Ms. Loss was about to take attendance did two staff members appear to usher Kit into the classroom. Looking a little broody with his hands in his pockets, and much nicer in the new clothes Diana had bought him then what Ty was used to, he walked to stand in front of the class next to the teacher.

Ms. Loss studied him as if she was deciding if she could just ignore his presence all together.

"Christopher Herondale I take it?" She said.

"My name is Kit. No one calls me Christopher." He replied with a sigh. Ty knew it was probably annoying him that he couldn't just go by Rook.

"Wouldn't Chris be short for Christopher? Kit seems oddly specific." She asked.

"Isn't my name an oddly specific thing to focus on?" Kit retorted looking confident and careless, nothing less than gorgeous as he stood there. his blond curls hanging messily in his face doing nothing to obscure his startling blue eyes. People laughed at his quip, Ty could already tell his fellow students would flock to him, wanting what he had. A few girls that had been staring at him whispering to one another began to giggle.

Attraction is what it was called, Ty thought to himself. They were attracted to him. And it was beginning to annoy him as he watched a few girls turn red trying to catch Kit's attention. One of the girls with long dark hair was patting the seat beside her, hoping Kit would favor her and take the seat. For a wild moment Ty contemplated telling the girl not to bother. Kit was _his_ friend, clearly he would sit next to him.

Ty discarded the thought, where had that come from? Kit wasn't _his,_ he didn't belong to him, and he could certainly sit where ever he wanted. Even if it was next to a girl with too much eyeliner. Ty was too distracted wondering where this sudden anger came from that he almost didn't notice Kit taking the seat beside him. Ty shot him a glance out of the corner of his eye. Kit relaxed into the seat, resting his chin on his hand leaning slightly in Ty's direction.

"Please tell me you just so happen to sit next to an empty seat in every class." Kit whispered to him. People weren't laughing now they were staring. Staring at Kit and who he chose to sit next to of all people.

"We'll make it work." Ty grinned.

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At first everyone's reaction to him took him by surprise, but then again people tended to like good looking people, and Kit wasn't naive enough, or lacked the modesty, to not notice he was attractive. Even though he wasn't exactly known for being charismatic, but he did know how to make people pay attention to him when he wanted them to. And when he didn't want a girls attention is usually when they wanted his the most.

Kit had spent a majority of the day trying to avoid his new classmates. Almost every teacher had him stand up and introduce himself and afterwards he had people trying to ask him questions about himself (most of which he wasn't sure he should legally talk about) or girls flirting with him. As the day progressed Kit found himself getting more and more agitated with everyone, and he wasn't even entirely sure why. It wasn't like he didn't enjoy all the sudden attention. It was apart of himself he wasn't proud of, the part of him that seemed desperate for some sort of praise or recognition. Yet he didn't feel gratified as he might once have as he watched the girl sitting next to him bat her eyelashes at him, instead he felt a growing frustration.

Maybe because Ty was much harder to impress, and he found himself wishing it was Ty who was looking at him like that.

Kit shook his head. Of course Ty wasn't going to look at him like that, he was his best friend, he was-

Kit turned his head as he walked out of the classroom and saw him. Ty was standing at the end of the hallway, his notebook in hand, leaning against the ramp way railing. He looked cold and calculated standing off on his own, as if he preferred his solitude and own intellect over the company of others. Though Kit had known Ty long enough to know how gentle he was. Ty who had a soft spot for small animals and even loved the insects that most people despised. Besides, Kit was different he reassured himself his friend would want his company. He found himself hesitating as he got closer to Ty. Something about the other boy was making him nervous, which was ridiculous since they practically shared a room together now.

Kit found himself slowing to a near stop as he found himself staring at Ty. His black curls were messy standing on end after he had combed his hands through them. His eyes were almost completely obscured by his dark lashes as he looked down at his notebook. His mouth was slightly turned down at the corners in a small frown. He brought the tip of his pen he was writing with to his lips, parting slightly to nibble on the end.

Kit swallowed, his eyes locked in place.

A dream resurfaced itself in Kit's mind of Ty lying next to him. His body wrapped around his own, and his lips were close and he could hear him whispering his name.

Kit tore his eyes away, mentally waving away the images in his head. What was wrong with him? It was just a dream, it wasn't real, and he definitely didn't need to be thinking of this. Kit strode determinedly forward as if by sheer force he could make his mind work normally. And normal was not staring at and having weird daydreams about your best friend and roommate.

"Hello Watson." Ty said as a way of greeting when he walked up to him.

"I'm pretty sure I never agreed to that nickname." Kit said, feeling more at ease already.

"You keep responding to it so I'm using it." Ty said with the hint of a smile.

"So all I have to do is stop responding? Very helpful Ty."

"It might not be so easy for you, you're pretty well conditioned." Ty said looking up from his notebook thoughtfully. Kit was about to ask if Ty was trying to perform some kind of Pavlovian experiment on him when Livvy caught up with them.

"There you are!" Livvy looked over at Kit in surprise. "Kit what are you doing still here? I thought you would have bolted as soon as the last bell rang."

"What a high opinion you have of me." Kit rolled his eyes.

"I'm just proud that you made it through the entire day without skipping out." She said glancing over at her brother.

"Not from lack of trying." Kit muttered under his breath.

At Kit's statement Ty extended his hand to his sister. Sighing, she pulled out a few bills from her pocket and handed them over to her twin. Kit balked at the two.

Livvy gave him an exasperated look. "We took bets on why you were late to homeroom."

"I said you were trying to sneak out. Livvy thought you wanted to make an entrance." He finished.

"Really, you thought I wanted an entrance? Do you know me at all?" Kit said turning to Livvy.

"I _do_ know you thats why I said it. You know you like the attention." She teased.

The three of them started down the hall together, the twins taking the lead.

"Anyways, so i'm staying behind today to prepare for that festival thing against St. Jon's." Livvy said the name 'St. Jon's' with great disdain.

"What festival thing is happening and what is a St. Jon's." Kit asked.

"St. Jon's School for Scholars is pretty much our rival high school. Like, once a year our schools organize this event where all the clubs face off against each other." She explained quickly before turning back to her brother. "Are you staying behind too?"

"Yeah, I should probably sort things out, there's bound to be some confusion." Ty snapped his notebook shut. "You can go home if you want Kit, I don't think anyone will be home though."

"Is everyone in a club?" Kit never bothered to think about extra curricular activities before having been homeschooled most of his life.

Livvy pondered this for a moment. "Well I'm in theater and the tennis team, Dru's got film club, and Julian _used_ to be in an art club...Ty is Jules still technically apart of the club?"

"He's missed the last six meetings, the last one he attended he had to leave early because Tavvy got sick. Even before that his attendance was unreliable. So, probably not." Ty said as he opened his notebook again to review some notes.

Livvy just nodded. "...And Ty and his friends started some kind of mystery club."

Kit wondered what kind of mysteries a high school club could possibly solve.

"They're not friends they're associates." Ty huffed, as if calling the other members friends somehow made the club less legitimate.

Kit wasn't sure how it was decided somewhere in the conversation, maybe Kit had asked to join Ty or maybe Ty asked him and Kit of course couldn't refuse. But somewhere it was decided that Kit would go to Ty's club meeting. They said goodbye to Livvy as she bounced away from them and they continued to the club.

"What do you think of Ms. Loss?" Ty asked suddenly as they turned a corner, Livvy was completely out of earshot now.

"Um, I don't know I haven't thought about it?" Kit said thrown off from the question.

"You should think about it." Ty said opening the door to a classroom preventing him from asking why he should have more of an opinion on their homeroom teacher.

Kit awkwardly took a seat in the back of the room, recieving a few curious glances from the other club members. The Mystery club apparently had three other members other than Ty. Max Lightwood, a boy with straight dark brown hair and rather large glasses that seemed to magnify his eyes. Sitting next to him whispering something was a boy with reddish brown hair wearing a dark purple beanie. Kit thought he recalled his name was Jay (or J.J.-Kit wasn't sure) Wayland. Sitting away from the other two in the corner was a boy Kit _knew_ without a doubt was Raphael Santiago. He had light brown skin and curling dark hair. He looked boyish and innocent, but Kit knew that was a lie. He was sitting with his arms crossed, looking like he was taking everything even more seriously then Ty.

Ty went to stand behind the podium in front of the classroom, looking almost like a professor with his serious demeanor and his blue sweater vest. Ty reached in his bag and pulled out a file folder he leafed through briefly before pulling out a flyer.

"We need to talk about the club festival." Ty announced.

"Why doesn't the new guy need to take the application test to join?" Max began indignantly, Jay shook his head vigorously in agreement.

Ty leaned against the podium, tapping his fingers against the hardwood clearly annoyed at being interrupted. "Because this is my club and I like Kit better than all of you, so he stays."

The mystery club members collectively glared at him.

Completely unaware of the change in atmosphere Ty continued. "Besides, I know what he can do and his particular skill set is much more useful than another member who knows the titles of every Criminal Minds episode."

Raphael's lip curled into an angry scowl.

Maybe associates was a better a word for the club members after all, Kit thought.

Jay patted Max's shoulder in a consolatory manner. "It's ok I still like you." He said.

With a deep sigh Max put his head in hands, knocking his glasses slightly askew.

Kit said nothing, just looked down at his desk feeling his face flush at Ty's words. He was speechless, something he couldn't ever recall being before. He felt his pulse quicken, and he knew it had nothing to do with everyone's gaze fixated on him. It was unsettling the power Ty had over him with just a few words. It was dangerous.

He really needed to get a grip on himself.

"As I was saying, every club is expected to participate in a competition against St. John's equal club."

"But St. John's doesn't have a mystery club." Max said peering out from behind his fingers.

"No it doesn't. But it does have a quiz bowl team, which according to the forms I signed to create this club, we are." Ty's hands began tracing lines on the desk restlessly at his explanation.

"You mean-we're actually a quiz bowl team?" Jay's hand froze mid pat.

"Yes, the school didn't want a club with a vague premises, so I registered us a quiz bowl team knowing Mr. Bane was unlikely to check in on club activities." Ty said.

"So we're gonna have to compete in a quiz bowl..." Max said in dawning horror finally lifting his head back up.

"Fantastic." Raphael said, his voice dripping with heavy sarcasm.

"Well, I wouldn't call it ideal." Ty tilted his head slightly to the side not quite catching the sarcasm. "We don't have to win, but we should at least try not to lose by an embarrassingly large margin. Let's discuss our strengths and weakness in knowledge so we can strategize." Ty turned towards the whiteboard, uncapping a marker, clearly expecting the room to contribute in a calm and organized manner. That is not what happend.

The room erupted into chaos. Jay was adamant that they should all just back out of the competition or take a dive. Max was in a panic demanding to know what they were supposed to do, and Raphael was reprimanding everyone, making the tension worse.

Raphael's eyes snapped to Kit's suddenly. "And what exactly can _you_ contribute."

"I uh..." Kit looked around wildly, sightly taken aback at being pulled into the chaos. _What_ could he contribute? Kit wasn't an expert in any subject and he doubted that the particular skill set Ty was referring to would really come up in a quiz bowl. He liked fantasy, maybe he could lead the questions on that? He Looked over at Jay who was wearing a leather bracelet with a Deathly Hallows symbol on his wrist and the Naruto manga sitting next to Max.

Maybe not then.

"I could answer animal trivia." Ty said brightly, oblivious to the situation.

"Well, do you know anything or not?" Raphael demanded again.

Ty looked over at the two looking worried now, finally catching on that something was wrong. Kit flashed a glare at Raphael, his temper flaring. He wasn't going to let Raphael make him look like an idiot now, not in front of Ty, not after he had defended him.

"I'll tell you what I know, _Santiago_." Kit said gripping his desk, bracing himself to get up. "I know what crowd you run with when your not playing highschool student. Catching up on crime shows to get tips? _La Sangre_." Kit watched Raphael flinch at the words, taking a step back from him. He swore under his breath, Kit couldn't tell in what language. Raphael looked nothing less then murderous-he should know. He had seen that look on actual killers.

For all Kit knew he _could_ be an actual killer. But instead of backing off he just gave him an angelic smile that didn't quite meet his eyes.

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No one seemed to be paying attention to the dilemma at hand. The room had erupted into loud shouts and complaints and Ty instantly pulled out his headphones to help buffer the noise. He had his back to the room trying to concentrate on creating an effective chart to help them decide each person's responsibilities. Except he was the only one contributing verbally and physically to the problem, while everyone else devolved into a myriad of loud obnoxious pitches.

Ty took stock of everyones reactions weighing them against his expectations:

Max was panicking, typical reaction as he was usually overwhelmed.

Jay was pretending to be upset over some injustice, but it was likely that he was just covering up the fact that he was lazy.

And Raphael was annoyed at everyone, as per usual.

As for Kit…

Ty turned around to see that Raphael had walked over to Kit, his arms folded and demanding to know what use Kit was. Kit returned his demands with a furious glare. Ty ripped out his headphones to hear the conversation between the two.

"Enough!" Everyone collectively froze falling silent, Ty never rose his voice. "Obviously we're not getting anywhere, so let's all go home and think about this."

Everyone remained frozen for a moment before awkwardly packing up and heading out the door. Raphael was first out the door with alarming speed, followed by Jay and Max who had their heads bent together whispering something.

Ty stared down at Kit who wasn't looking in his direction.

"What you said about Raphael…"Ty began, still trying to wrap his head around the information that one of his club members was apart of a gang. _La Sangre_ , Kit had said. It was a reference to the street gang that called themselves, 'The Blooded Ones.' Ty had read information on him that he could find before. He had suspected that Raphael was involved with illicit activities but he had no idea to the extent. But Kit did, of course he did.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said what I did. I lost my temper." Kit mumbled.

"No, you shouldn't have. But it was impressive." Ty said.

Kit's head snapped up, out of Ty's peripheral vision he could see Kit's blue eyes were wide and expressive. "I couldn't have done that." Ty continued. "Know what to say to Raphael I mean. I always make things worse when it comes to conversation."

Ty looked away feeling the heat rise in his cheeks.

"You're great at a lot of things I'm not good at, Ty. Besides what's the point of having a Watson if he doesn't balance Sherlock?" Kit said, picking at a spot on his face.

"You mean that? You want to be my Watson?" Ty said surprised.

"Yeah, now let's go back home, we got a mystery to solve Sherlock." Kit had ducked his head as he got up trying to hide his grin. "But next time maybe let me do the talking, before you piss of an entire room."

Ty let out a sigh. "I never understood why people insist on asking questions they don't want the answers to."

Kit gripped Ty's shoulder reassuringly, and felt a surge of joy when Ty didn't move away from him. "I'll remember that next time I find myself compelled to ask you something really personal."

Ty felt himself relax under Kit's grip, knowing that he understood, that he wasn't bothered by his lack of social skills and laughed feeling a burden lifted. It was always worth laughing when Kit made a joke, because he always looked so pleased like he did right now, so Ty knew he had done something right.

He liked how Kit made him feel like he was special in a good way. It was a new and exhilarating feeling, it would have been frightening, but he couldn't feel frightened of Kit.

He wanted to make Kit feel like he was someone special too.

He just hoped he could keep Kit around.

 **I don't know why the Mystery Club is filled with dead people, I guess it's just...a mystery! lol.**

 **Though Iam rather fond of him now. Tell me what you guys think!**


	7. Crystals

Ty and livvy where sitting on the staircase, peering out of the railing down at the small sitting area in the entryway below. Diana had come to speak with Kit and update him on his situation. Kit had promptly decided then and there that he needed a shower, so Julian was talking to her instead. Ty knew it was dishonest to listen in to their discussion in secret, but as Kit's best friend Ty thought he should listen in for him. Afterall, Kit was just being emotional, he liked Diana. He just didn't want his life decided for him, and he would want to know what they were talking about later.

Julian and Diana were sitting in the big arm chairs across from each other. In between them was a small table with a board game Dru had been playing with Tavvy earlier. It was around eleven p.m. so everyone else was asleep, or pretending to be. Only the light in the hallway was on and the house was unusually quiet, the only sounds were the occasional creak upstairs from one of his siblings walking across their rooms and the soft tones of discussion downstairs.

"I think they'll take him in." Diana continued.

"They sound pretty young to adopt a kid." Julian said, he was handling a photo Diana had brought. Ty tried to crane his neck to look at it but a tall lamp by Julian's chair was obscuring his view.

"You're a lot younger than they are, and your doing fine with four kids."

Julian shuffled in his seat, laying down the picture on the table. "I know how much you do for them." She said gently.

"That's different, I didn't get my kids-my brothers and sisters when they were teenagers. They're mine, they have always been mine."

Ty felt an uncomfortable emotion in his stomach at his brothers words, he sounded like their father, but he wasn't, he was supposed to be their brother.

"Be that as it may, they are the closest relatives he has. The others, well, the Herondales have had a complicated family history as it turns out."

"Do they know about his father? What he did for a living? They may not be so willing to take him with that kind of upbringing." Julian asked.

Diana frowned. "I doubt they will blame the actions of the father on a teenager."

"What do you think of him?" He asked suddenly. "Kit, I mean." His tone was suddenly sharp, probing.

"I think he's a good kid. He's confused, but who wouldn't be in his situation?"

"His father was Rook the Crook, I'm sure he wasn't exactly installing moral values into his son."

Jules sounded so distant, and cold. Ty wished he could see his brother's face but he was turned away from him. He turned to look at his twin whose facial expressions he knew better then anyone's. She was looking just as confused as he felt, which should have reassured him that he wasn't misreading the situation but only proved to make him more anxious.

"I know you don't really feel that way otherwise you wouldn't let Tiberius around him." Diana reasoned.

"What I know is that my brother seems to care about him and that he's incredibly stubborn. Ty would have befriended him no matter what I said." It was a quick quip as if he was agitated. The harshness in his tone sounded foreign from his brother who always spoke to them only ever gently or sternly, but never harshly.

Now it was Diana who was speaking sternly. "This is not a keep your enemies close situation, Julian, He's a child."

The scent of shampoo slowly wafted over and the voices below faded out of Ty's focus as he snapped his head up to look down the hallway, Livvy looking up to follow his gaze. Standing in there in the dark was Kit, his hair dripping and his white shirt damp and sticking to him. His expression looked blank, to Ty at least. It was Livvy who got up first, her fingers lightly pulled at his sleeve for just a fraction of a second to understand that he should follow her.

The twins quietly walked over to him, steam was still coming out of the bathroom and the scent of shampoo was heavy in the air. Ty had learned that Kit used a lot of shampoo.

"Kit.." Livvy whispered, taking a step for him.

He shook his head and Livvy stopped. "I'm going to bed." He said dismissing her.

Ty's heart started pounding then, overcome with a need to stop him. "..I!" He started.

Kit stopped, turning to give him his attention and Ty was grateful. "I wanted you to stay." He tried again.

This time Kit gave him a small smile, but it only made his heart contract more for some reason. "I know Ty, but that's not your decision."

"What I mean is I haven't given up yet." Ty walked up to him getting close so he could keep his voice low and not alert the others downstairs that they were there. Closing in the distance leaving little room between them, he was suddenly conscious at how close he had gotten and how soaked through Kit's shirt was almost transparent and clinging to his body. Their bodies were only a few inches apart. They were so close that Kit who wasn't all that much shorter then Ty had to tilt his head up to look at him. Kit's eyes widened in surprise at their sudden close proximity. Ty reached behind Kit and turned the knob on the bedroom door opening it. "I have something to show you."The sight of Kit so close made his voice come out soft and breathy. Kit let out a shaky breath and Ty found himself wondering if Kit had been holding his breath for some reason. His shoulders brushed against his slightly and the contact sent a sudden rush of adrenaline through him. Ty tried to steady his nerves as he moved past him into the bedroom.

Livvy gave him an encouraging smile as she followed her brother inside, Kit following soon after.

"Have you thought anymore of Ms. Loss?" Ty asked again.

"Uh, yeah...I'm still not really sure what your asking but.." He trailed off.

"Yes?" Ty encouraged.

"I don't know It feels like she keeps expecting me to do something. But that doesn't make sense she doesn't know me. Diana even made me drop the name Rook to ensure that."

Ty turned towards the closet they had stopped in front of and opened it, revealing the corkboard himself and Kit had put up to help keep track of their investigation. He tapped a full printed out sheet he had added recently without Kit's knowledge. "She may not know you but she did know your father as Jonathan Herondale."

"Seriously? Why didn't you say anything before Ty-Ty?" Livvy said.

Kit leaned forward to take a look at the autopsy report pinned to the board.

"She was the one who did the autopsy on your father when he faked his death and gave the positive identification when she used to be a mortician. The report is of course, wrong but did she know that?"

"So, in other words did she have a reason to lie." Livvy said, trying to peer over Kit's shoulder to look at the report.

"And you wanted me to come up with an unbiased opinion on whether or not she was surprised at my existence." Kit finished Livvy's thought.

"Yes." Ty answered, waiting on Kit to anwer.

Kit seemed to think about this for a moment. " I don't think she was surprised, and I think she knew exactly who I was."

"So she lied for him then, though we still have no idea why." Ty and Kit stared at the board.

"Or how to get her to tell us either." The two lapsed into another long silence as they stared.

Livvy clasped her hand on the two's shoulder. "Well this has been fun, but I have to wake up early tomorrow. If you two have an epiphany staring at the board, I'm sure you'll tell me." She patted the two on the shoulder and flounced out of the room, leaving the two to continue trying to force a sudden epiphany.

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It was midday on a saturday and Ty and Kit where holed up in their bedroom preparing for the quiz bowl. It was a rare day in the Blackthorn house that didn't involve children running up and down the halls and in and out of each others rooms. However, almost everyone was preparing for the event against St. John's, except for Dru who had the day off from babysitting Tavvy and was hiding away somewhere before Julian changed his mind. Livvy was practicing with Mark for a play the theater club was going to put on. She also had plans to practice tennis with Emma later so Ty had the suspicion Jules was hanging around them as well.

It had been a few hours since his Ipod died and the effects of his frustration without his buffer was becoming increasingly evident. His mind was racing back and forth between the trivia he had in front him, Johnny Rook's missing persons case, and of course Kit. He was desperate to find out what happened to Kit's father and keep his promise to him, and if he could prevent him from moving away. He knew Kit had found a place with the Blackthorn's even if he wouldn't admit it and the fact that people who didn't even know Kit wanted to remove him from them so soon after he lost his father made Ty furious on his behalf.

Yet, he had a responsibility to the Mystery Club. He didn't really care about the competition, but he did have his pride, and since he is responsible for the club he should do his best to represent them. So that meant preparing himself, and especially Kit. Ty was confident he could hold his own well enough during a the competition, however Kit was still undecided on what sort of trivia he should be learning and kept switching subjects. Ty had tried to keep his focus on one category but found himself too distracted himself to really be effective.

Worst of all Kit had seemed to notice his growing anxiety, shooting him sideway glances he undoubtedly thought Ty hadn't noticed. Kit had even reached for his hand a few times before quickly retracting his hand thinking better of it. Normally, Ty would have liked to hold Kit's hand but he knew the feeling of electricity that it would send through him would only throw him off. Somehow, Kit seemed to sense this and didn't press it, and Ty had found himself once again incredibly grateful to whatever had brought Kit to him.

Ty looked up to see Dru who had apparently come out of hiding. She was hovering in the doorway and dressed for work. Ty had completely forgotten that Kit and Dru were scheduled for a shift today.

"Kit are you ready? Julian says if your not down stairs in the next five minutes your going to have to walk for work, and I am not walking with you."

Kit let out a loud sigh letting his phone drop an exaggerated manner. "I guess I'll drop everything then. I wouldn't want you over run by angry customers all by yourself." Kit teased.

"I think I'm in more danger from angry customers with you there." She said sticking her tongue out at him before closing the door, leaving him to change into his uniform.

Kit had gotten up from the bed they were sitting on and grabbed something off the dresser and handed it to Ty.

Ty looked at the Ipod in Kit's hand blankly.

"Here, yours died right?"

Ty took it from him, frowning slightly. "Thanks, but I dont think your music is what I need right now." Ty had heard the music on Kit's Ipod before, bands like Bush and Seether. They weren't bad, but they were too distracting for him. Ty turned over the Ipod to look at the screen and was surprised to see a playlist already selected that was simply titled: Ty.

Ty looked up at Kit surprised. He gave him an encouraging smile and handed him his earbuds that Ty promptly put in his ears. The playlist had only seven songs on it but each one was a classical piece Kit knew Ty had liked. He played the first song on the playlist and was surprised to hear Bach's _Overture (Suite) No. 3_. He wouldn't have thought it was a song Kit would have known. Ty had heard it before, and had conflicting feelings on. It was a song that felt like it was trying to convey something that Ty didn't quite understand, the feelings too complicated and powerful for him to comprehend back then.

As Ty looked at Kit, the music softly playing in his ears, he felt he finally understood it now.

It was soft but yearning like the song for something familiar that you were only just coming to understand how much you needed it. He watched Kit's eyes as he looked away from him, like crystals reflecting the sea, and he felt something he had never felt before. The desire to have someone's eyes on you and never look away. Even if Ty never met them he never wanted Kit to look away from him.

It sounded like a revelation.

"When did you make this?" Ty asked.

Kit scratched the back of his head, a habit Ty had come to understand was only something he did when he was uncomfortable. "After that day when Tavvy accidently took your Ipod to school instead of his and then you spent two hours that night lecturing him on the color differences between the two Ipods." He said.

Ty, had indeed been quite agitated that whole day without his music and Tavvy's Ipod was no consolation, being filled with with nonsensical children tunes and theme songs of his little brothers favorite cartoons. Ty had dedicated quite alot of time later trying to teach Tavvy the difference between his opaque white Ipod and Ty's regular white Ipod. However, then he had to take time to try to teach Tavvy what opaque meant.

Kit had done this for him, made a playlist just for him in the event that he might need it one day. Ty never would have asked him to do this for him, but he never would have expected anyone to have thought of doing that either.

"Anyways.." Kit started, slinging his apron over his shoulder. "You can add songs to it if you want, I won't need it tonight. You know how Dru refuses to play anything but that mixed soundtrack she made." He rolled his eyes.

Ty nodded his head solemnly. "I knew letting her make the soundtrack for Halloween was a bad idea."

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It was a few hours later, Kit and Dru were at work and Jules had taken Livvy to meet up with Emma and Christina at the tennis court. The only ones left in the house were Mark, Tavvy, uncle Arthur, and of course himself. Ty had finally managed to focus on the trivia bowl thanks to Kit's playlist and had even downloaded more music onto it. It was then when he got a call.

Flipping his phone open, his twin answered on the other line sounding frantic.

"Ty? Oh thank God."

"What's wrong?" He asked sitting straight up.

"Julian just got a call from Diana. They're heading over to the shop now.."

"Who is they?" He demanded, already afraid of the answer.

Livia hesitated on the other end.

"His family." She finally said. "They've agreed to take him."

Ty paused for a second, his whole body freezing. " I'm going over there." He announced.

"How are you going to do that? Jules has the car and their already on their way."

"I'll walk then. I have to get there and tell him before they do." He said furiously and to his surprise Livvy didn't argue.

"You'll have to run to get there in time." She said seriously, understanding why Ty was so determined.

"I will." He proclaimed before hanging up the phone.

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Ty burst into the coffee shop, sweat plastering his clothes to his body, his sister looked up from the counter looking concerned. Standing next to her was Diana, and Kit..., Kit was nowhere to be seen.

He was too late.

Diana had taken Ty aside to sit in a nearby booth, Dru shooting them nervous glances the entire time.

"They're speaking to him in the back." She explained.

Ty was pointedly staring at the napkin on the table, in his hands under the table he was playing with a pipe cleaner he had brought with him.

"I'm glad you're here, this way you can-"

"Say goodbye?" He said harshly. This was the end, he had failed Kit and now they were going to drag him away with strangers and expect a simple farewell to suffice.

Diana gave him a look before continuing. " Not exactly, he's not going anywhere not yet anyways. The've agreed at least in the meantime to stay at Kit's old house in case any new leads regarding Johnny's disappearance show up."

"So, your using him as bait." Ty realized even more angry now.

Diana took a deep breath. " In a sense, yes. It would be more pertinent to the case if they stayed in the area for the time being. Especially since we have reason to believe people may come looking around Johnny's old house."

"Because you think the landlord has been killing his tenants." Ty said, his eyes falling tor rest just above her chin.

Diana's eyes widened in surprise. "How- how did you know that Tiberius?"

"Obviously the police are not the only one interested in what happened to Kit's father."

"If you know anything you should inform the police." She lectured.

"I've been informed many times that the police are not interested in the opinions of a fifteen year old." He replied a little begrudgingly.

She opened her mouth to say something when the door to the back of the shop opened.

A man who looked remarkably like an older Kit was the first one out the door. He had blonde curls, and a surprising amount of muscle definition with striking golden eyes, much different then Kit's light blue ones. Next to him was a small woman with bright red hair and green eyes, and standing right behind both of them was Kit.

"Diana, we're ready to go when you are." The man said.

The group began to move towards the door when Ty ran up to Kit, stopping him.

"Ty! What are you doing here?" His widened in surprise not having noticing him for the first time.

"I'm here for you." He said, wishing he knew what else to say. He didn't get here in time to tell him the news and he had broken his promise to find his father before social services relocated him. "Here." He said extending his hand for Kit take back his Ipod. "I made Mark find my USB cord and I downloaded some music onto it." He said as Kit took it from his hand.

"You are terrifyingly stubborn." Kit said cracking a small smile for him, despite what was happening. Despite having failed him.

Suddenly Kit took a step towards Ty away from the others. "This isn't over yet." He whispered. "We'll figure this out, I know we will."

"I know, We're Sherlock and Watson after all." Ty said.

And Kit smiled.


	8. Hurricane

**Sooo, first of all so sorry for how long its taken me to update this. I just want to let anyone still bothering to keep up with this that no matter how long I go between updates I WILL finish this! So thank you to everyone reading this and everyone who comments inspiring me to continue. Really its what keeps me going.**

Kit was lying in his old bed staring up at his old ceiling fan. Clary had already knocked on his door several times asking him to get up for school. He kept telling her he was getting ready, but so far he had only done so much as roll over. It was weird being back after staying with the Blackthorns, especially since he didn't expect to ever see this place again. Making the whole thing even weirder, of course, was the fact that two complete strangers were in the next room making breakfast and waiting for him to come out to play "family".

At least all of his stuff was still here, he thought pulling his comforter over his head and taking in the familiar scent. It was strange how he only knew what his house had smelled like after he had left for so long, but as soon as he came back everything hit him, the smell, the furniture, the posters on his walls. He was home.

Kit's eyes rested on the nightstand beside him where he had put his Ipod. Ty had given it back to him last night. He had no idea how Ty had gotten to the coffee shop to say goodbye to him but he wasn't going to question it. He was just glad he was there.

Kit grabbed the cord and pulled the Ipod towards him. He could use a distraction right about now, maybe with any luck if he turned the music up loud enough he could just ignore his relatives for the rest of the day. Popping the earbuds in his ear, he turned on the Ipod and started scrolling through his playlists. His heart jolted as he found a new playlist under the one he had made for Ty, one he definitely had not made.

" _For Kit._ "

His thumb hovered over the selection. Ty had made him a playlist? Curious he selected it and turned the volume up, not wanting to be interrupted by anyone knocking on his door for the millionth time. The music started up slow gathering in tempo then remaining persistent, it reminded him of Ty somehow.

Kit sat up in his bed, his covers still pulled over his head he switched through the tracks listening to them with his eyes closed trying to picture what Ty was thinking when he put this playlist together for him. They were all classic pieces of course, they sounded of longing to Kit, like missed opportunities, maybe even romantic. Or was he just hearing what he wanted to?

But why would he want to hear that?

Kit shook the blanket off himself and started to get up, his heart feeling a million times lighter. Right, he reminded himself, today was the Quiz bowl and he wasn't going to let Ty down. Even if, he felt himself sigh at the thought, he had to go make small talk with his new "family".

Kit finally opened the door to his room, his headphones hanging around his neck, the volume turned up so he could still listen to it. Jace and Clary where huddled close together by the kitchen bar probably discussing what they were going to do about the troubled teenager refusing to leave his room.

Both of them looked over at Kit as he opened the door. Jace who had been leaning on the bar, cocked an eyebrow. "Maurice Ravel?" He asked, naming the composure of the piece playing through Kit's headphones.

He had to fight the corners of his mouth from turning into a scowl. If it was Ty who had instantly recognized the music he would have just smiled thinking about how impressive he was. But when Jace did it, it just came off as pretentious.

"Jace made eggs!" Clary said cheerily, ignoring the fact that Kit was already really late for school.

Kit took a seat at the small round table where his plate had been waiting for him. Of course perfect Jace made eggs. He was having a hard time with the fact that Jace looked so much like himself, you know if everything about Kit was a hundred times better. It wasn't really helping his fragile teenage ego.

"How do you like your coffee?" Jace called from the kitchen where he was pouring a cup.

"Black," Kit lied.

Clary grabbed heself a cup and sat down next to Kit, her small fingers wrapping around the mug.

"Are you going to school today?" She asked.

Kit was surprised she was giving him a choice. "Yeah, I have a quiz bowl thing," he muttered feeling the butterflies return to his stomach as he thought of the event.

"With that boy? Tiberius?" She asked, she was trying to be friendly, Kit tried to remember that.

"Uh, yeah I really shouldn't let him down.." He trailed off not sure he wanted to continue this conversation.

Jace sat down his coffee before taking a seat across from him, " I know you won't believe it when I say this but I know how you must be feeling."

Kit felt a bubble of rage rise to the surface before he pushed it down, "Yeah, that would be hard to believe," he said with enough bitterness to match his coffee.

Jace, on the other hand, didn't look fazed, " when I was ten my father died too, and I found a home with a family friend. The Lightwoods became my family."

Kit looked up at him finally with renewed interest, and he knew, maybe even vulnerability.

"My point is," he continued, " I know what it's like to finally find a place you want to belong to and how it feels to worry that you might not."

Kit looked down at his plate, pushing his eggs around with his fork. "Is this your way of telling me that I don't belong with the Blackthorns?"

"No, I'm telling you to try trusting me."

Clary looked back and forth between the two, Jace and Kit were both looking in opposite directions. Kit was focused on his plate, and Jace was looking stubbornly of in the distance to the right.

After a long pause Kit asked, "how did your dad die?" Before quickly adding, " you don't have to tell me I was just curious."

Jace hesitated, and Clary knew why. They had talked about this, and whether or not it would be a cause of contention between the two. But this was Jace, and she knew he wouldn't lie to him if he asked.

"You're dad and mine got into a bad crowd, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. They got caught when a deal went south and you're dad was the only one who made it out."

Kit was quiet for a long time, "So it was my dad's fault."

Jace ran his fingers through his hair. "We all have our own choices and that's all we can take responsibility for, my dad made his."

"Is that why no one bothered to look for my dad when he disappeared the first time?"

Jace shrugged, " _Supposably_ your dad was dead, but yeah most people blamed Johnny for getting him involved."

Kit wanted to resent his family for making his dad an outcast, but apart of him felt that same resentment towards his father. Kit's life was unnecessarily dangerous because of the choices his dad had made everyday, choices that seemed to disregard his own son's safety completely. So if his life was in danger it was his father's fault and if he was alone without any family it was the Herondale's fault.

Kit had never been more conflicted.

"Fine, maybe you get it. Maybe you are trying to help and your not here to ruin everything. Just promise me one thing, promise me you won't keep anything from me."

Clary and Jace exchanged a look, one that made it clear they were in over their heads with this teenager. It made them look as young as they actually were.

"We promise, if anything comes up we'll tell you," Clary said, and Kit believed her but he had to be certain.

"No, I mean it. I know how dangerous it is to stay in this house, that people might come looking for my dad, or me," Kit had been wondering why the police would even allow this but Jace had an answer for him.

"The police aren't exactly pulling out all the stops looking for your father," Jace said.

Kit figured that, it was why he had been reluctant to get them involved in the first place.

Besides, he had Ty.

"I know your not a kid Kit, if anything happens I'll tell you, promise."

Clary turned her head to give him a stern look, "that doesn't mean we're giving you permission to act on that information, got it?"

Kit tried to fix her with an equally defiant glare in return but failed.

"No investigating with Tiberius," She added winning their staring contestant with that seriously scary look.

"Fine," he raised his hands in defeat, "I won't go doing anything stupid," he lied.

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Kit was sitting at a long table with his "teammates" across from the St. John's team. He was right in the middle of what Kit would consider, something very stupid, or at least he felt very stupid. He was sitting at the far end of table while Ty sat on the other end in the team captains seat.

They were in the small auditorium. Though they lacked an audience much to everyone's relief.

The teams had been going back and forth. Sometimes they would score a few points in a row and take the lead then they would miss the next six questions and St John's would take the lead. They somehow made it into a tie breaker (Kit had no idea how. He had been observing the competition like a spectator instead of a team member) meaning the next team to score seven points in a row would win.

Kit just wanted this to be over one way or the other. He hated sitting here completely useless, like Raphael had said he would.

He glanced over at his teammates. Jay was sitting closest to him, he had a sort of zoned out look like he had long clocked out, Kit envied him. Max was sitting next to Jay looking nothing short of a panic attack. His face screwed up in fright, his fingers were drumming on the table insistently. Raphael sat closest to Ty. His demeanor was serious and condescending, and probably annoyed. So he looked as he usually did. Finally, Ty sat at the far end. His arms crossed and his expression unreadable. If he was invested in the competition or just waiting to get on with his day Kit couldn't tell.

Meanwhile, across from them was the team from St. John's. soldier looking teenagers dressed all in black. Their expressions so serious they made Raphael look expressive.

Kit hadn't grown up in this school system. So, he definitely didn't have the innate rivalry everyone else seemed to have, but even he was starting to hate them.

"Symstesia," the big lunky sudo soldier answered. His face breaking into a leer as he leaned into the microphone.

"OH! That is incorrect!" The announcer said wiping the smug smile of the lunks face.

The Mystery Club let out a collective breath of relief, despite the fact that the microphone was unnecessarily loud, echoing around the small auditorium. So far St. John's had been unable to break their most recent winning streak.

"Now, the Mystery team has a chance to steal-"

He was cut off by an unnecessary buzzing by Ty who had been waiting with his hand over the buzzer. " _Synesthesia_ ," Ty corrected.

"Correct! Mystery club you just need two more points to win!"

The lunky soldier glared daggers at Ty who wasn't paying attention. while Kit did his best to send hate waves at the lunk in return.

"Next question challengers!" He began, way to enthused to be hosting a high school quiz bowl match, the guy acted like he was on _The Price is Right._

"Produced by Lucasfilms in 1988.."

Kit's ears perked up.

"...This film features halflings."

His mind froze, did he know that? He could only think of one movie featuring halflings and it definitely wasn't made by Lucasfilms.

While he racked his brain Max's hand slammed down on the buzzer with lightning speed.

" _Willow_!" He practically squeaked. His hand resting on the buzzer for a little too long before Jay snapped back to reality and removed it for him.

"That is-that is correct!" The announcer said sounding relieved that Max had a real answer this time instead of nervously mashing the buzzer like he had been.

"And now for perhaps the final question!"

 _Oh boy_ , Kit thought.

"Though, never canonized by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.."

Kit could see Ty out of the corner of his eye, straightening up, his hand hovering over the buzzer.

"This gentleman thief was declared to be Sherlock Holmes greatest rival."

Ty froze, confusion drawing on his face, but Kit on other hand felt a wave of nostalgia, memories of closest thing to bedtime stories his father ever told him washed over him.

He slammed his hand down on the buzzer.

"Arsene Lupin," he said, surprising everyone that he answered not only a question but the _deciding_ question.

Everyone turned towards him and Kit allowed himself a smug smile.

Jay and Max looked at him confused, " _Lupin the Third?"_ Jay whispered.

Kit ignored them, instead he couldn't help looking over at Ty.

He looked surprised and when Kit looked over at him Ty gave him a warm smile, his cheeks turning pink.

"That is correct! The Mystery Team wins!" The announcer trailed of as if just now noticing how strange the name 'Mystery Team' was for a quiz bowl team. Apparently, Ty hadn't bothered to get creative when submitting a team name.

Suddenly everyone was getting up, some people were cheering and some people were heading out the door as fast they could. Jay was gloating to the St. John's team who were unlucky enough to get stuck behind. Max was hovering behind him, quietly trying to coax his friend to leave.

Kit was heading towards the exit, planning on waiting for Ty to catch up with him. That was when Raphael, of all people, walked up to him.

Kit was automatically on edge as he approached. Their last encounter didn't really end well after all. Raphael stopped in front of him, arms crossed, looking him up and down as if sizing him up.

"Congratulations on winning the point. I think you impressed our captain, I assume that was what you were wanting."

Kit knew Raphael was trying get under his skin, yet he still found himself glancing at Ty anyway.

His lips curled into a smirk, "that's what I thought," he said.

The blood rushed to his face, his eyes snapping back to Raphael's, "What do you want?"

"Just to tell you I know who you are _Rook_ , and I want to make things even."

Kit folded his arms. " Because nobody has figured this out yet I'm going to go ahead and explain it. Hurting me isn't the way to get back at my dad. He's gone, probably dead, and therefore can't care what happens to me."

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Not _you_ , I mean Tiberius." He looked over to where Ty was. Max had dragged him over in hopes he could help pull Jay away from the other team. "I owe him."

Something clicked in the back of Kit's head. He had never bothered to ask himself why the head of a notorious gang was hanging around a highschool mystery club.

"He helped you with something." It was more of a statement then a question but Raphael nodded.

"A year ago bodies started showing up in our territory, bodies of children made to look like _we_ had killed them. At first I thought it was one of our own gone rogue, or an ex member. That was when I heard about a kid trying to start some form of mystery club."

"You trusted your gang affairs to a fifteen year old?" Kit asked incredulously.

"I was desperate, the neighbourhood we were supposed to protect was turning against us. Our children were being killed, I have brothers and sisters in that neighbourhood."

Suddenly, Kit was reminded of Julian. The faraway look, and clear desperation mixed with determination were all things he had seen before on the older Blackthorn's face.

"Weren't you worried that he would report you or something?"

"I was, but that proved to be a misplaced fear. You've met Tiberius, as it turned out when I presented him with what evidence I could he could hardly care less about how I had acquired it or why."

That sounded about right, knowing Ty he was probably just delighted to have a real mystery to work on. He probably didn't think twice on why Raphael had brought it to his attention.

"Ok, so you owe Ty, that's why you joined the club."

Yes, that and I figured it would be advantageous to keep track of what he was doing, in case he took more of interest in my, uh, _associates_ activities. This is also why I'm going to tell you something that may help you."

Kit's eyebrows flew up in surprise, "about my father?"

Raphael gave him a grave look that made Kit wonder if this was the part where he finally got over his head. "That same gang I mentioned started asking around about your dad, trying to get as much information on him as possible a few months ago before he went missing."

Kit wondered if this was who Miles had tipped off that he would be hanging around in the coffee shop the night he met Ty. "What gang?"

"They call themselves the Wolves."

It was at this moment that Ty had made his way over to them. Jay and Max along with the remaining members of 's were notably missing.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, scrutinizing them, probably worried about the argument that Kit and Raphael had before.

"I was telling him about the case we worked on," Raphael said.

Ty's eyes brightened, "Were my deductions of any help?"

"Very helpful, crucial in fact," He said giving him a genuine warm smile Kit was surprised to see.

Ty beamed clearly elated by the news.

Kit felt a sting of jealousy he didn't quite understand as he watched.

"Ahem, well we should get going right Ty?" Kit ignored the look Raphael was giving him as he waited for Ty.

The two of them said goodbye to him before heading down the hall together.

"Why was Raphael telling you about that case?" Ty asked.

"Apparently that same gang, The Wolves, were asking about my dad before he disappeared," He explained still trying to fit the pieces together himself.

"That can't be a coincidence," Ty said and Kit agreed, "It's lucky Raphael told you." There was something in Ty's voice that seemed a little off as if he was worrying about something.

"I think it was his way of thanking you for helping him before," Kit said, trying to answer whatever Ty was trying to figure out.

"Should I..I don't know turn him in?" Ty looked conflicted struggling with the moral consequences of staying silent about Raphael's activities.

Kit was surprised, he hadn't thought about that, or that the revelation of who Raphael was might bother him. But then again, Raphael's world was Kit's world, not Ty's.

After all Kit's past didn't really seem to bother Ty but then again that was past tense not present.

"No I don't think you should," he said thinking it through, "even if he the police take you seriously messing with gangs is serious. His friends will be after you, besides I don't think he's going to hurt any of us." Kit also got the strange sense that something would happen to Raphael's siblings if he was replaced. And though he didn't like the guy, he didn't want to be responsible for putting his family in danger.

Ty seemed to take his word for it, deciding that the matter was settled as he moved onto the next topic. "I didn't know that, about Arsene Lupin and Sherlock Holmes, that is."

Kit turned to look at him but when he did Ty quickly turned his face away.

Kit felt something catch in his throat, "I-uh well, it was one of my dads favorites. Particularly the ones where he outsmarts Sherlock. You can probably see why he liked them so much, a criminal, conman outwitting the most brilliant detective in the world."

"I can also see why Doyle didn't appreciate it," Ty said wrinkling his nose adorably as if he was unsure how he thought about it.

Kit laughed, and Ty shifted, peeking at him underneath his dark lashes shyly. His faltered a little at the look he was giving him.

"I was thinking maybe we could read them together sometime?"

Kit felt something warm bubbling up inside his chest and he found himself smiling a little too wide. " I would like that, it's been a long time since I heard them."

"And I really want to know what you think of them being the Sherlock Holmes expert," he added earning himself a blush from Ty making him feel like he had done something especially right.

Feeling like he wanted to keep doing things right, another thought popped into his head. "Go on ahead and find Livvy, I'll meet up with you in a moment I want to check on something." He told him. Ty nodded and headed down in the direction of the theater while Kit made his way To Ms. Loss's classroom.

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Kit had the simple plan of checking out the classroom and see if it was unlocked, or if he could break into it and then see if he what he could find. Then later he could present his findings to Ty and impress him even further.

He was feeling pretty good with himself when he ran into Jon Cartwight.

"Hey man where you going?" He asked walking up beside him.

Kit internally groaned as Jon continued to walk beside him. Jon was the type of person to try get in with him because he thought that would make him more popular. They shared the one class he didn't have with Ty in which Jon had taken it upon his actual best friends absence and pretend to be his new best friend.

"Just left some things in Ms. Loss's room," he muttered, wondering what the chances are that he would just leave.

He looked confused, "Um, weren't you absent today?"

Kit went from internally swearing to imagining hitting his head through a wall. "Yeah, well I had a quiz bowl thing."

"Oh yeah, your in that mystery club with that weird Tiberius kid."

Kit stopped, his expression strangely blank as he turned to stare at him. "What did you say?"

"I mean, I get feeling like you should be nice to him while you were staying with him but there is just something _really_ off about the guy-"

His sentence was cut off by Kit's fist connecting with his jaw.

He didn't even have time to react to the sudden attack as Kit slammed him against a wall, his fist pulled back for another swing.

Kit was never really a violent guy, he had never really wanted to beat up anyone before. He wasn't even sure how he was able to do this to a guy who was much bigger than him. He was pretty sure it was only because he was too surprised to fight back.

He wasn't thinking as he brought his fist down again. It was like Jon had found just the right thing to say to turn Kit into a perfect storm. And now he was just a whirlwind of uncontained fury, not just at him but everyone that thought that way about Ty.

He wanted to make him regret ever saying Ty's name.

"Stop! Stop! I'm sorry ok?" He yelled, his hands flying up to protect his face.

Suddenly the rushing in his ears left him and his anger cleared. His temper momentarily died as he realized what he was doing, like reaching the eye of hurricane.

He let go off his shirt and stepped away, still breathing hard and Jon took the opportunity to take down the hall.

Kit turned to watch him run, that was when he noticed a familiar figure standing at the end of the hallway.

 _Livvy_.

Her eyes were wide with shock, her hand hovering over her mouth, she didn't even look away as Jon ran past her.

Kit began to shake as the full realization of what just happened hit him. Kit's back hit wall behind him hard as he slid down the wall, gripping his hair. "Shit, I can't believe I just...I didn't mean to."

"Kit."

He looked up to see Livvy standing in front of him, she looked calm now over the shock of watching him snap.

"It's ok," she said gently taking a seat beside him.

"How-how much of that did you see?" He asked reluctantly.

"Pretty much all of it."

"I-I just kind of snapped, I don't know. I just wanted to make him stop talking." He tried to explain. He was beginning to calm down and though he was horrified that Livvy had witnessed what happened he was immensely grateful that Ty hadn't.

"I know, I heard what he said that's why I'm saying it's ok." She wasn't looking at him, giving him space besides sitting next to him, and Kit appreciated it.

"I just can't believe I snapped like that.."

"I wouldn't feel too bad, I've snapped on my fair share of classmates."

Kit actually laughed, feeling the last of his tension melt. "Are you telling me you've got a violent reputation?"

Livvy didn'tlaugh back though, instead she frowned, "kind of, I'm not exactly popular with guys."

Kit blinked thinking he must have missed heard. Livvy was pretty, really pretty he couldn't imagine that she didn't have at least a few admirers. "Excuse me?"

Livvy let out a huff, "I've never been asked out, it's not like I don't know why. That it's because they know they would have to deal with my brothers," she said frustrated.

Kit thought he finally understood. Liv's had two older brothers who could be pretty intimidating. And then there was Ty…

Kit felt another wave of rage wash over him as he thought of Jon again.

" Even Ty has been asked out by a few girls," she continued.

"That's not really that surprising, I mean he's not a bad looking guy." Kit tried to say nonchalantly. 'Not bad looking', was an understatement Kit knew. As embarrassing as it was, the only word that he could think of to describe Ty was beautiful. Not that he was going to say that out loud. Even he knew that would be a weird thing to say about your best friend.

"No, not that I think it matters. I'm not really sure girls are his thing, if you know what I mean." She said, giving Kit a worried sideways glance. He couldn't blame her, teenage boys were not exactly known for being open minded.

"You mean he likes guys?" Kit asked trying not to seem too interested. He found himself badly wanting to know the answer confusing himself as he asked himself why he cared.

"I mean, I don't really know. He could have no interest in romance at all for all I know. He's not exactly the romantic type. I thought he didn't care about having friends either, and well, here you are. I don't know what he's thinking anymore, and I used to always know what was going on." She sounded despaired and he wished he was better at comforting people, or had any idea how to for that matter.

"No one can grow up completely together, but that doesn't mean you have to grow apart." Kit tried, not sure if he was making any sense having no siblings himself. "You know, I'm not going to steal him from you." He elbowed her playfully.

Livvy smiled, elbowing him back. "You can try, but you won't succeed Rook."

He was glad Livvy had found him, if anyone could understand it was Livvy and it was good to know she didn't judge him for losing it.

"I'm glad you broke into our coffee shop and my brother held you at knife point." She said breaking the silence that had spread between them.

"Uh, me too? You know, that's a weird way of saying I'm glad were friends."

Livvy smiled, "I've been thinking about that…"

Kit turned to look at her better, "That we're friends?"

"Yes, and that we should try dating, you know if you want."

"Wait, dating? Us?" Kit was dumbfounded, he wasn't sure where this conversation was going but he definitely wasn't expecting this.

Livvy was actually blushing, which Kit had to admit did make her look pretty cute, her eyes focusing on the spot of her jeans she was picking at.

"I mean, we get along, we hangout all the time anyway, my family likes you and you're best friends with my twin."

Kit felt the corner of his mouth twitch, "Wow, Livs that was really romantic," he teased.

She rolled her eyes, finally turning to look at him now, "Ok, and you're kinda cute too," she admitted throwing her hands up in defeat.

Kit clutched at his heart, "You wound me woman!"

He was dragging this out, he didn't know how to answer. He couldn't think of any reason _not_ to say yes, yet he couldn't help feeling like something was pulling him back. Why shouldn't he say yes? She had a point, he really liked hanging out with her and he did find her attractive, so why not?

"Only if you refer to me as roguishly handsome or devilishly charming from now on," he joked, trying to quell his doubts.

Livvy stuck out a hand, "fine, but you have to refer to me by embarrassing nicknames like pudding cakes or sweet tartes when we're in public."

Kit sucked in a breath between his teeth making it sound like her suggestion physically pained him before shaking her hand, "you drive a hard bargain Blackthorn."

"You should know Rook," she laughed, pulling him to his feet, "come on, let's find Ty."

At that, the doubts he had been pushing down erupted into full bloom.

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Livvy explained that Ty decided to look for him in Ms. Loss' classroom when he didn't show up at the theater and chose to stay behind in case he showed up.

Kit was surprised Ty guessed where he was going, for some reason the realization that Ty knew him even better than he thought caused him a sharp pain in his chest where his anxiety was growing instead of making him happy.

Ty was leaning against the door waiting for them. Livvy bounded for her brother, wrapping her arms around his neck, "Guess what Ty-Ty!"

 _Please don't_ , Kit thought as an uneasy sense of dread dragged his feet as he approached.

He wished he could tell Livvy to drop it, but that was stupid of course she was going to tell Ty. Why was he making such a big deal out of this?

Kit tried to wrap his head around his own feelings as Ty turned to look at his sister.

"What is it?"

"Me and Kit are dating now!" she exclaimed.

Ty's eyes grew wide, darting around his sister's face, pulling back to examine her. Then he turned to look at Kit, and for a moment their eyes met.

That was when Kit felt something in himself break.

 **Also...**

 **It'll be ok I promise, I'm doing a thing.**


	9. Glass

Ty tried to asses his emotions and identify them one by one so he could prevent them from drowning him.

The first emotion he could disentangle from the rest was confusion. He usually considered himself to be rather intelligent and therefore he was usually quick on processing information. But for some reason he had to repeat the words in his head several times before the meaning sunk in. He felt like a child again looking for Julian to draw him a picture of a phrase he didn't understand as he searched his sister and friend's face looking for the meaning he missed.

 _They're dating, they have feelings for each other, romantic feelings._

The next thing he felt was a hollow feeling in his chest as if his heart had left, leaving him with an empty cavity. Desolation, he recognized, brought on by heartbreak.

That last part was harder for him to reconcile with, the reason he was heartbroken. But it brought his feelings into a more precise focus. There was only one possible reason, he was in love with Kit. A part of him already knew this, it didn't take a genius to recognize the difference between romantic and platonic feelings. He had pushed this to the side however, because even though he had always known he was gay, he had no way of knowing what Kit's preferences were.

This at least made the acute sense of betrayal he was feeling make sense if not still unfounded.

It made sense that Livvy had no idea of his feelings considering he had never told her, yet a part of him was surprised that the person who knew him like an extension of herself had no idea of his true feelings. He couldn't help feeling hurt by that, but it was his assumption that she knew, it was his mistake. Afterall, he knew Livvy would never have pursued Kit if she had any idea.

Not to mention that he had thought, no, more like hoped that Kit could return his feelings. He knew this was always unlikely, but if someone like Livvy was what he wanted then he could never have hoped to be the one to win Kit's affections.

Ty had spent the rest of the day mulling over these thoughts after Livvy and Kit had told them their news. With all of this in his mind is how Ty ended up outside of Julian's bedroom late that night.

Julian rolled out of his bed at the sound of a light rapping on his door. He hadn't been asleep anyways. He found that it took him awhile to fall asleep these days, his mind making lists to make sure he had done everything that needed his immediate attention. He was thinking he had forgotten to read Tavvy his bedtime story when he got up towards the door. But reminded himself that he had in fact read him most of a story before Dru had a wardrobe emergency that Julian had to solve. How Dru managed to singe her favorite black dress she wouldn't tell him. He put figuring that out on his to-do lists for tomorrow.

Julian was surprised to see Tiberius when he opened the door, looking a little disheveled and discomforted.

"Ty-?"

"Can I talk to you?" he cut him off.

"Of course you can." Julian let him into the room, closing the door behind them. Ty hardly ever asked to talk to Julian in private, and certainly not this late at night. In fact, Ty hardly ever asked him for anything with the exception of his computer Watson, and the various animals he would bring home and ask to keep for pets. But as far as brotherly conversation, advice or guidance he never seemed to need it. This had always made Julian feel a little sad, like his little brother had already grown up to the point of no longer needing him, or maybe just didn't want him around. Though now, seeing his brother finally come to him late in the middle of the night, his hair messy and his clothes disheveled as if couldn't sleep, he felt his heart constrict in concern instead of feeling relieved.

He sat at the edge of the bed next to his brother, noticing the pipe cleaner in Ty's hand Julian gave him a few years ago.

Ty seemed concentrated on unraveling a particularly stubborn knot he had tied, his eyes not leaving it as his hands worked.

"So do you want to tell me what's going on?"

Ty didn't answer at first, but Julian didn't push. He knew Ty would answer when he was ready to and the last thing he wanted to do was to frustrate him when he came for help. They sat there for awhile in silence, and Julian took the opportunity to really look at his brother. Things had been so hectic lately Julian hardly had time to really give his siblings much individual attention, least of all Ty. And because of his new found friendship with Johnny Rook's son, Ty had began to change. Not in big ways or even different ways, just more like himself. He had gained a new level of certainty in his actions, Julian noticed it in the little things lately. As if he had found some form of validation in himself. He didn't want to think this was because of Kit, though he knew that would be ignoring the obvious.

"What does it feel like to be in love?" Ty blurted out, throwing Julian out of his reviere.

"Oh, well...let me think about that." He blinked. Julian leaned back trying to think. He wanted to ask Ty about his questions but he knew how he would feel about his probing.

So, Julian's mind drifted towards Emma, his childhood best friend. He never dared tell anyone how he really felt about her, because if he said them out loud they would become to real to runaway from, and he needed to be able to run away. Some days the realization was too crushing and he felt that if he knew for sure that she didn't return his feelings he would lose himself. That was the one thing he couldn't afford. His family needed him to be their big brother, their father, employer, and breadwinner. If he fell apart who would pick up his slack, Livvy or Ty? Mark was only here until he got over his breakup with his boyfriend, if he had to dropout of school because of Julian he didn't know if he could forgive himself.

Even now, when his brother was finally asking for his help, just the thought of Emma was enough to distract him from what was most important.

"First of all, they're on your mind all the time," he started "it's almost enough to make you do crazy things just to make them happy. Your heart beats faster when they're around and all you want is to be near them." Julian frowned "But.."

"But, what?" Ty asked turning his head to look at him.

"But that only describes starting to fall in love with someone. Being in love is a little different."

"How so?"

"It's hard to explain, but basically some of those things may change over time but one thing doesn't. You know you want that person, their best and worst, and nothing you do in this life will be complete until you share it with them." There was quiet for a moment, "does that make sense?"

"It does." Ty nodded gravelly.

Julian hesitated asking his next question, "Is this about Kit?"

Ty's face fell, he looked devastated. How was it that his brother could fall in love and have his heartbroken without him even noticing? Maybe he was already falling apart. At the least he couldn't help but feel like he had failed Ty.

"He doesn't- he doesn't feel the same way about me."

The defeated sound in his voice made Julian want to wrap his arms around his brother or bang down the door to Kit's house and demand why his brother wasn't good enough.

He didn't do any of those things.

They had never discussed Ty's sexuality before, it was never brought up and Ty wasn't one to make such a big deal of things either. It didn't come to him as a big surprise, having two bisexual older siblings had probably made these things seem more normal to him then they might to other teenagers his age. He also wasn't sure about encouraging his brother to pursue, Kit but seeing him miserable was far worse.

"How do you know? He seems to like spending time with you, maybe if you give it some time-"

"He's dating Livvy."

"Oh." That was a surprise. Kit seemed to get along great with both of the twins, but it had always seemed to Julian like Kit had a way of gravitating around Ty. Maybe he just wasn't used to Tiberius hanging out with anyone other then Livvy.

"Will this get any easier? Knowing that I can't...that he won't ever.." Ty started hastily retying the knot, his delicate face turned to hard edges in frustration.

Julian felt a pang for him. He didn't know what to say to make it better. He had been waiting years for his feelings for Emma to diminish. He hated that his brother was going through the same thing. But his brother needed him, so he had to tell him something, even if it was a lie.

"Give it time. Give them some space in the meantime, you don't need to torture yourself."

"But I want to keep being his friend."

"I know Ty, I know. But Kit will be there when you're ready, Livvy too." He put his hand on his brothers shoulder giving him a gentle squeeze. Ty didn't react to the touch but he didn't pull away either, Julian figured that was a good thing.

"I take it you haven't told your sister?" He asked.

Ty shook his head. "No, I didn't want to say anything before I was sure and now It would just make her unhappy."

"Everything will work itself out I promise." He knew Ty hated that saying, an empty promise without any guarantees. Julian had stopped liking the saying himself when he was twelve and became the one responsible for making sure everything would turn out alright.

But what else could he tell him?

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Ty was spending alot of time in his room the next few weeks. At first he tried spending time with Livvy and Kit when he was over, trying to enjoy their company but that proved far more difficult then he hoped.

He couldn't help the sharp stab in his gut when Kit would reach for Livvy's hands or the quick pecks on the cheek they would give each other.

Once Kit leaned over and kissed Livvy on the lips and Ty reacted immediately standing up, the chair he was sitting in making an obnoxious screeching noise. All he knew was that he needed to leave and muttered some excuse that he couldn't even recall, as he hastily left for his room.

He decided to take Julian's advice and give himself time, but Kit wasn't making it easy.

Ty was sat at his computer when a knock at the door interrupted his hesitated where he was for a moment before getting up to open the door, pretty sure who would be on the other side.

Ty opened the door, still holding onto the knob instead of opening it wide.

Just as Ty thought, Kit was standing there. Ty looked around noticing that he was alone.

"Hey, um, I was wondering if you wanted to hangout?" Kit asked.

"Not particularly," Ty said truthfully.

Kit winced, "It's just been awhile since we worked on the case together so I thought maybe.." He trailed off.

"I would actually prefer to work on this part alone. I promise I haven't been neglecting it if that's what your worried about,"

"That's not what I was-" Kit murmured.

Ty thought he sounded upset and he found that it was only adding to the pain he was in, knowing he couldn't be around him. It was getting much harder to look at him, or to hear his voice.

"Goodbye Kit," he closed the door, gripping the door handle until his knuckles turned white, waiting to hear Kit's footsteps retreating.

They never came.

Instead after a long moment, he heard a slight thump as Kit's body rested on the door sliding to the floor. Silently, Ty dropped to his knees, resting his forehead against the door, knowing Kit was just on the other side.

That was how they stayed.

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Ty circled the address registered to a 'Floe McAdam', or to whom Ty believed was actually the address of Malcom Fade. He discovered that Malcom's official address was actually Kit's resident, leading Ty to believe that Malcom must reside under a false name somewhere else. He found the anagram in the phone book and called the number using an online service to hide his phone number. 'Floe' was typically a woman's name and given the fact that a man answered the call with a greeting that lacked any introduction of who was answering in lieu of asking the caller 'how can I be of service?' Ty concluded the high probability that this was in fact the mysterious land lord he was looking for.

Livvy was at work and Kit would soon be joining her on his day off to hangout. Thus, it was the perfect time for Ty to start his investigation. Ty wasn't lying when he told Kit that he preferred to work on this part of the investigation on his own, not because he didn't value Kit's or his sisters input but rather because it was too distracting to be around them right now.

He packed a quick bag, putting his head phones around his neck. He hesitated reaching for the Ipod on his desk. The last time Kit had visited he asked Livvy to give him his Ipod. They had started to trade it back and forth, adding new songs on the playlists they created for each other. Ty had fallen in love with one of the new songs, the only song in fact, that Kit added last. It was from _The Lord of The Rings_ soundtrack, titled _A Hobbit's Understanding._ Ty knew that Kit liked alot of the pieces from the movies and that they had even won quite a few awards, but this was the first one he had added to the playlist.

Out of curiosity, Ty looked up the piece and found that it was one of the themes associated with the Shire, which he knew was the main characters home, one that represented that of longing for home and the growth of challenging one's own understanding in the face of hardship.

Ty found himself listening to the song often lately.

He grabbed the Ipod and headed for the door.

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Ty had an Uber driver take him to the block just before his desired location. Getting out he walked along the sidewalk until he came upon the address he was looking for.

The house was a single story A-frame with beige paneling and a dark mahogany door.

Ty surveyed the area looking for any signs of someone being home. There was no car in the driveway and there appeared to be no garage or awning around back where one could hide.

Ty walked closer, making sure no one was watching him as he started to move around back.

There were no lights on from any of the windows. Some of the blinds were even up on some of the windows telling Ty that no one was trying to obscure their presence inside.

There was a small screened in porch at the back of the house, slowly Ty crept up to it. He checked the screen door and the surrounding area, making sure there was no alarms he could trigger if he tried to open the door. Seeing none, he gingerly pushed the door open finding it unlocked.

He slide inside, checking the door knob to the house to discover that it was, indeed, locked. He looked around for a welcome mat or anyplace that would make sense to leave behind a spare key, remembering how Kit told him he broke into the family coffee shop.

It quickly became apparent that there was no key to be found as Ty suspected. It would be rather careless for person so involved with the underground to allow his house to be broken into so easily.

Ty examined the lock on the door taking out a few bobby pins he had brought with him and started getting to work on the lock.

Ty was no expert in lock picking, in fact he had never even attempted it before and it was quite clear he just didn't have the skills necessary after about fifteen minutes of trying.

He let out a noise of frustration. He couldn't hang around here until Fade finally came back home, Ty knew this was a small window of opportunity and he wasted it all because he didn't bring Kit along with him.

This was why Sherlock didn't do things without Watson, Ty thought to himself with dismay.

Ty rested his head on the door as he let the failure sink in when he heard a voice he least expected from behind him.

"Ty, what the hell are you doing here?"

Ty whirled around in bewilderment. "Kit?"

It _was_ Kit somehow, he was holding the door open for the porch, his denim jacket tied hastily around his waist was trying to slip past his hips, Ty figured he must have taken it off when he decided to sprint judging by his heavy breathing and sweat on his skin.

"Good observation," Kit said marching up to him, "now answer me why the _hell_ you're here on your own."

Ty was completely taken aback, by Kit's sudden appearance and the tone he was using that he never heard before, which is probably why he just recited the first thing that came to his mind at the question, "I could ask you the same thing..?"

"No you can't, because you already know the answer," he shut down. "I followed you here. I stopped by your room to try to talk to you before going to see Livvy and found your address book open."

He was giving him a hard expression Ty had never seen on his face either and concluded Kit must be actually mad at him.

Ty started nervously fiddling with his makeshift lock pick in his hands. "I told you I wanted to work on this part of the investigation on my own."

"Because you're avoiding me," Kit stated.

"It's nothing personal I just need some space," Ty said not wanting to lie, glancing away from him.

Kit turned ashen his face wet with sweat suddenly looked like tears. "Fine, I won't bother you anymore but I'm not going to let you do something dangerous on your own."

Ty was silent for a moment, unsure as what to say, "I don't want to let you down, I promised you I would find your father."

"Ty I don't care if it puts you in trouble," Kit's voice came out strained.

"But it's your dad," Ty said completely confused.

Kit just shook his head, "It's just not as important. Whatever happened to him has already happened but I don't want to see anything happen to you."

Kit didn't give him anytime to process that as he moved past him to look at the lock.

"Nobody's home?" Kit asked with a sigh.

"No one appears to be."

"And I'm guessing this is Malcolm's actual house?"

When Ty looked up at him in surprise Kit smiled just barely. "I can tell an anagram when I see one too."

For whatever reason that made Ty's cheeks heat up and he was sure he was blushing.

Kit held out his hand and Ty felt a wave of relief and gratitude at the offer as he handed him his bobby pins.

With a deftness that amazed Ty, Kit was able to get the door open in less than a minute. He expected to see Kit smiling or to say something witty like he usually did only to see his face wore that same hard expression of earlier.

Suddenly a thought occurred to Ty that made his stomach wrench with guilt. "Does Livvy know?"

Kit, who was peeking his head into the doorway, looked back at him and blinked. "Livvy? Oh, no, I uh, sort of rushed after you and forgot to tell her.."

Ty let out a breath of relief, if he had made Kit angry with him because he thought he was being reckless he hated to think how distressed his twin would be.

"I should probably text her so she doesn't think I stood her up…" Kit muttered under his breath as they began sneaking into the house.

The porch led into a small Kitchen with tiled floor and from there a living room. On the right there was a bedroom with the door left ajar, Ty decided to go and investigate.

One side of the bed was un made as if someone has just gotten up, pictures on either side of the nightstand depicted a happy couple, a man with interesting lavender eyes and a woman with long brown hair.

The side of the bed that was made had nothing on the dresser but on the otherside was a book along with some mail that was of no importance. Ty moved on to the bathroom connected to the bedroom finding a single towel hung up, on the counter were a few makeup trays nicely put away. There was toothbrush holder with two toothbrushes by the sink. Ty ran a finger along the bristles, not concerning himself with the hygienics, finding one of them to still be damp.

After finishing his search he headed out to the living room to find Kit motioning him towards the bookcase.

Kit plucked a card from a card holder full of contacts and phone numbers and handed it to Ty.

His eyes widened as he read the contact information for Catarina Loss.

"So, Catarina has ties to Malcom too," Kit said in a hushed whisper, which was lucky because at that moment they heard a muffled voice from the far room.

They froze.

Kit started into motion first, take the phone card back from Ty and placing it back before grabbing his hand and pulling him behind the wall just opposite of the short hall that lead to the locked room.

Heart beating fast, Ty kept a tight grip on Kit's hand for reassurance as they listened in.

"Listen, I told you the name, Jack Crowe remember? You got the name now, you can find him." They heard through the wall. The voice was still muffled but distinguishable.

"I swear that's all I know he's refused to keep in contact after our business was over with. Please I've kept my end of the deal."

Ty's mind raced. Rook meant to deceit or to cheat as he told Kit but it had another meaning to.

It also meant a black crow.

Suddenly, the clues made startling sense, the places of residents Malcolm had set up for his clients to disappear, his association with Catarina Loss the former morticioner.

"He's faking people's deaths and giving them new identities," Ty whispered.

Kit's eyes widened. "That means...my father-my father might be alive.."

Ty opened his mouth to say something. To tell him that they would find him and the last thing he wanted was to let him down, that he was sorry for avoiding him.

But he never got the chance.

As he turned towards him there was a shattering of glass. They whipped around to see a broken window a few loud shouts and the sound of motorcycles could be heard outside.

Ty turned to take a step forward but Kit tackled him to the ground before he could.

"Don't!" He screamed before pinning himself ontop of him just before an explosion went of blinding Ty.

Something collided with his head, he felt a sharp pain before his vision went from blinding light to utter darkness.

He heard Kit screaming for him before the world slid away from him into nothingness.

"Ty! Ty! Please no…."

 _Please_

 _Ty, please wake up_

* * *

I know, I know, I'm the worst I've been sitting on this one for like half a year. I can't promise I'm going to upload this more regularly but I still mean what I said before that I will eventually finish this.


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